Seeing Through the Mirage
by Kouta'kunR
Summary: Finding a job that I was suited for seemed like an impossible task. Nothing stuck or seemed to be something I could do for any longer than a month. But a split second decision starts me down a path that might not just offer me a steady career that I can enjoy, but people I can enjoy it with as well. Now it's just a matter of protecting my new friends from a vengeful kingdom. Easy.
1. Off Day

**Off Day**

Today could definitely be called an... off day.

I guess it started out pretty normally. I woke up and went into work on time, like I normally do, and when I saw that today would be another slow day, like they normally are, I went to one of the only places on this planet where you could lay in the sun and still stay cool. However, it wasn't long before my fairly normal routine was interrupted by my boss.

I know he isn't a bad guy. Some of the other humans at the port had some misplaced grudge against him for being Zentradi, but on the few occasions I interacted with him outside of the work, I knew he was just your average guy trying to make an honest living on a planet where it was probably easier to make money doing _dis_ honest work. So yeah, not a bad guy. Doesn't mean I can't call him a cheapskate though. I think I earned that after he fired me.

So there's the first thing that kind of threw me off my normal routine. But it wasn't exactly world shattering. I've been fired before and quit more jobs than I have fingers... nd toes. The point is, unemployment stinks, but there's always the next job. At least I was getting closer to the answer of what I wanted to do with my life. Driving around the workroid was definitely one of the more fun jobs I've done and I was at least grateful my boss was going to let me finish out the day driving one around. But that was when the second 'off' event in my day occurred.

Security had been unusually paranoid since around midday and my boss had said it was a stowaway. However, once I began driving around, I kind of forgot about most everything else and let the music that came over the speakers help me make my job at least a little more interesting with a good beat to move around to. However, it turned out that not even that could be enjoyed today. As I was beginning to think about a lunch break, I heard a voice that wasn't coming from the speakers around the port, instead it was coming from one of the containers in my workroid's grasp.

I quickly placed the container down and opened it, a big no-no in the business, but I was getting fired anyways. Inside among a large pile of apples was a young girl, maybe no older than 12 if I had to guess. No sooner had the sun hit her surprised face did she start to apologize like a corrupted audio file. More to stop her repetitive requests for forgiveness than any kind of altruistic act, I offered her the arm of my machine to jump down onto. Just as I thought she would start another round of apologizing, she instead told me she was very hungry. I don't know what led me to do it, maybe the heat was starting to get to my head, but I offered to share some lunch with the hyperactive child.

I guess after being on an apple diet for a couple of days, rice must taste amazing or something because the girl who introduced herself as Freyja Wion ate my simple rice balls like a depraved animal. Throughout the meal, she would interject her tail of woe upon me, something about running away because she didn't want to get married to an apple farmer or something. She also added something about wanting to audition for the Walkure.

I won't deny that I like to listen to their music, their songs are enjoyable to dance around to in the heavy lifter and have a way to get me into a more productive mood. But this woman was on the borderline of fanaticism. No, she was definitely past that line. So it was somewhat difficult to inform her that she had missed her destination planet of Ragna by nearly 30 light-years. Somewhat difficult. I had been having a rough day myself so the information was easier to break to her than it probably would've been otherwise.

As soon as she recovered from the news, she began to try and hype herself up again, going into a speech about how this 'minor' setback wouldn't stop her from achieving her goal of joining Walkure. However, before I could comment about how unlikely that outcome was, a drone buzzed over head and zeroed in on the stowaway. She quickly ran off leaving me to wonder if this day could get any stranger.

Maybe if the universe was a kinder mistress, that would've been the end of my weird day. But the universe is the most unforgiving lover in existence and my day was fated to become even more... off.

When I finally got to the surface again, a law enforcement vehicle drove by, once again reminding me of the stowaway. I followed with my eyes to spot Freyja being cornered and knew that if something didn't happen in her favor, she would be going back to wherever she had come from and probably marry that apple farmer, never finding out if she had a shot to be part of Walkure.

Maybe it was because I was being let go and I planed on leaving the planet anyways. Maybe some part of me felt sorry for the girl who was having just as rough of a day as me. Or, maybe it was just that the heat today was especially powerful and frying my reasoning mind down to nothing. Whatever it was, I grabbed my speed-bike and drove to the girls rescue. For a split moment, she and everyone just stood there stunned. I impatiently waved my hand at her and told her to get on, spurring her into action just in time for us to speed away from the people who decided it wasn't worth their trouble anymore to arrest some 12 year old girl and a delinquent boy.

As the sun began to set, I decided we had traveled both far and long enough that we'd at least be good for the rest of the night. I pulled the bike into an alley and got off the vehicle, Freyja hesitantly following me as we began to walk down the alley. I tried to offer her a way off the planet and back to her home world, but I somehow knew even before she flat out refused that she wouldn't go. After all, if she did, she would've just turned herself into the authorities. I was about to offer to get her in touch with a guy I knew who might be able to get her to Ragna if she could pay the price when a metallic click came from behind me, adding another point to my off-day score.

I had been to some of the more seedy parts of the cluster in my endeavor to find work, so I knew that the mechanical click came from gun. I quickly stuck my hands up into the air hoping the girl who had been with me would follow suit, but I quickly discovered that her 12 year old appearance went with a 12 year old sense of naivety.

I quickly found myself pinned on the dusty ground with a strong female voice accusing me of abducting a small girl to do unsavory things with, in addition to being accused of being a stowaway. That part at least got Freyja to speak up. After quickly explaining that nothing like what she had thought was going on was actually occurring, the woman who had pinned me to the ground quickly apologized and introduced herself as a member of Third Fleet of Chaos Ragna, Delta Platoon, Second Lieutenant Mirage Farina Jenius. I was surprised she had been able to say it all in one breath with as much stiff formality as a marble brick.

I quickly noticed her pointed, elongated ears, helping explain some of her rigidity as an ancestral trait from at least one of her parents who were probably some percentage of Zentradi. Even something about her name, Mirage Farina Jenius, rung a bell. However, what Freyja noticed was her claim to be part of Delta Platoon. After quickly explaining to the bewildered Mirage that Freyja was something of a fan of Walkure, the 12 year old was all over the woman with auburn hair. But, the events making my day an off one were only beginning to speed up in occurrence. Before Freyja could act any more like a fan girl, a beautiful, yet somehow disturbing song began to... well, it wasn't that I could exactly 'hear' it. I more or less felt the strange solemn tone. Judging by Freyja's gasp and Mirage's troubled look, I gathered they could also feel the music that had suddenly started. Mirage was quickly contacted on some sort of communication device and after a couple of quick nods finished her call and told us to seek shelter, only explaining the sudden panic to be the cause of a Var outbreak. Almost as soon as she had left our alley-way, I began to hear large explosions a couple hundred meters away.

I quickly grabbed Freyja's hand and began running to the nearest sandstorm shelter, the sturdy buildings being the best place to take shelter in my mind. However, before we could reach the building, one of the missiles that the NUN's weren't able to intercept impacted the road near Freyja and I, throwing a massive amount of heat and debris in our way and forcing us to the rubble strewn ground.

So yeah, an off day to say the least.

However, before I could curse my luck any further, a lone voice that filled me with a sense of wonder began to reverberate the air around me. I looked over at Freyja to see if she heard the voice as well and saw that she seemed to be frozen in place.

"What's wrong?" I asked, hoping I wouldn't have to snap her out of her stupor.

"I hear a... rainbow colored voice!" she replied, snapping her head back towards the source of the melodic singing. Confused by the statement, I also looked back to see a lone woman walking up the street... _towards_ the explosions and mayhem. Before I could question her sanity, the woman began to glow in a blinding purple light that ended with her now dressed in some kind of outfit that looked more appropriate for an idol competition. "I knew it!" Freyja exclaimed, jumping up with energy that I was beginning to suspect was boundless. "It's Mikumo!"

As I struggled to try and catch up with whatever was going on, I head the high pitched wail of four VF-31's overhead. The four planes shot towards the lone woman who had never stopped her beautiful singing and before I could fully rationalize what was going on, three more woman similarly dressed had joined her.

"Lend an ear to the songs of a goddess!" the woman who had started the enchanting singing exclaimed with enough vigor to match the hyperactive girl standing beside me.

"Super Dimension Venus, Walkure!" the four women shouted in unison, finally bringing some light to the situation. For me at least. So this was the group that I had been listening and dancing to for the last couple of years. Well, they sure knew their showmanship if the shouting group of fans who were already beginning to gather in the streets were anything to go by.

Just as the woman who had led the procession began to really start singing, a large battroid jumped behind Freyja and I. However, before it could fire off it's lasers, the woman jumped from her impromptu stage towards the two of us, flicking her wrist as she flipped through the air. A group of drones that had been launched from the VF-31's gathered between us and the battroid and instantly materialized a nullifying field that rendered the fired laser beams from the machine as effective as a gust of air.

Before the pilot of the hostile armor could react, the drones dispersed into an orbiting pattern around the machine, distracting it as one of the VF-31's came down low enough to be used as yet another impromptu stage for the lead singer. As she rode the Variable Fighter, the machine transformed into it's own towering battroid mode and rapidly dismembered the hostile machine that had fired upon us, reducing it to a harmless pile of steel.

For a moment, I was able to tear my eyes away from the captivating performance of both the pilot and the singer to see that the three other fighters were performing similar activities of destroying the hostile battle mecha's. And all while a concert with a large group of civilians listening was going on.

"Amazing!" Freyja kept shouting out from beside me. And, for the first time that day, I found myself unable to disagree with her.

With most of the immediate threats dealt with, the four fighters regrouped in front of the singers, all in their battroid forms to perform a quick choreographed dance. However, when they all took off yet again, one of the aircraft lagged behind the others. It wasn't anything hugely significant, but it was noticeable to me at least, having danced around in my own mechanized suit.

"One of them is off," I commented idly to Freyja who was to busy listening to her idols to really give my comment much consideration.

Suddenly, one of the hostile battroid's that the VF-31's hadn't neutralized yet sprinted onto the scene, causing the crowd of people to momentarily realize that they were still in the middle of a battlefield. The lead singer, Mikumo if Freyja's screams were anything to go by, quickly jumped towards the machine and seemed to put on a personal show for the pilot inside. For a moment I thought the woman had lost it, but the machines limbs began to tremble before they went limp altogether.

"They neutralized the Var with music..." I realized. I had head the stories and read the reports like everyone else, but until just now and seeing it with my own eyes, I had always been a little skeptical of the power of the Walkure's singing. I refocused my attention on the singing women before me, in awe that such a thing could really be real. I allowed myself to enjoy the final moments of the impromptu concert before I began to urge Freyja to move along again. But she wasn't having any of it. Her idols were right in front of her and she wasn't leaving until... well, I didn't really know what would make her leave.

Unfortunately, my answer came in the sound of loud sonic booms.

"Who're they?" I asked aloud, looking back up at the sky as a group of incoming objects approached us. I didn't really expect an answer from anyone, but when the four VF-31's that had been loitering in front of Walkure took off towards the incoming aircraft, it was enough of a response to let me realize this wasn't part of the show. As if to confirm my suspicions, red streaks of laser weaponry began to fill the evening sky as the beams of light tried to strike down the VF-31's that flew towards the new incoming threat. I stood enraptured for a moment, the flying of the aircraft more captivating than any part of the concert had been, the planes dancing around to some unheard song.

I was forced from the entrancing dance when one the enemy fighters dropped out of the fight and launched a ridiculous amount of missiles at the lead singer of Walkure, Mikumo.

"Mikumo!" Freyja cried out from beside me, pulling my attention away from the moment of impact. Things started spiraling out of control after that.

With the rest of Walkure becoming distracted by their leaders unknown status, the remaining people who were afflicted by the Var were beginning to become a threat again. As if to serve as an unwelcome reminder of that, one of the battroids caused an explosion right behind Freyja and I. Covering my face for the few seconds the rubble fell, I tried to think of what I needed to do now.

Just as I was about to begin my dash towards the sandstorm shelter again, I heard Mikumo's voice again, and while her voice was just as lovely as it was before, the song she sang seemed to be almost taunting in nature. Seeing that their leader wasn't in any kind of immediate danger, the rest of the Walkure group joined in with their own voices, beginning anew their battle against the var crazed pilots in their battroids, this time without any support from the VF-31's that were still tied up with the unknown fighters.

"Are they crazy?" I asked, a perfectly valid question in my mind.

"No..." Freyja replied from beside me. I glanced over at her trying to give her an incredulous look, but stopped upon seeing the heart shaped hair accessory she had been sporting throughout the day glowing a pink hue. "This feels amazing..." she continued, making me feel slightly uneasy. I didn't know how I felt about calling explosions that would kill you in an instant amazing. "... I can't hold it in," she declared, standing up for the first time since the last explosion knocked us down. "Time to show some Winderemere power!"

"She's a Windermeran?" I asked myself as she ran off, her hair accessory now leaving a strange trail in her wake. I heard the girl begin to sing as well, her voice admittedly very well synchronized with the rest of Walkure. But no amount of synchronicity would save her from the plethora of bullets whizzing past both our heads. And unlike the Walkure who still had the drones that had been launched earlier, Freyja had nothing protecting her.

"Take them outta here quickly!" someone beside me yelled. I quickly looked over to see a field medic removing a pilot from a downed variable fighter that had been damaged earlier. "Release the security so it can be moved easily!" The medic and his aide quickly removed the wounded pilot and swiftly left, leaving me right beside the still functional machine. I glanced back and forth between the crashed fighter and the clearly crazy girl still running towards the carnage where the Walkure were.

"AHHHH!" I cried out, jumping towards the open cockpit of the fighter. It couldn't be all to different from the workroid could it? And really, all I needed to do was stick by Freyja until all of this sorted itself out. The machine quickly booted up with multiple warning screens but I impatiently ignored them, feeling out the cockpit and quickly adapting my grip and position to try and make the most of the few seconds I was being afforded for control familiarization.

"It's essentially the same," I told myself in an effort to convince my mind that this wasn't going to be anything too difficult. The fighters cockpit finally closed itself and the primary systems booted up so that I could finally walk around. It didn't take much for me to begin to rapidly accelerate towards where Freyja had run off towards, spotting her just as one of the rampant mecha's tried to trample her. I reached out with the arm of the fighter, using the augmented strength I now had to stop the small girl from being crushed.

"You okay?" I asked, pushing back the hostile machine. "We're running!" I shouted, not waiting for a reply from the terrified girl. I reached out with the free hand of the fighter and began to look for a safe area I could escape to. However, the Var infected pilots didn't seem to want me to leave. Two more machines joined their toppled ally as it began to get back up, forcing me to begin to take evasive actions to avoid the weapons pointed at me. I found that the song Walkure was singing made my movements feel even more natural than they had when I danced at the port during my unloading work. I began to find it easier and easier to dodge and counter the hostile battroid's movements and shooting. However, just as I was beginning to think I could dance my way out of danger, I noticed a barrage of missiles coming towards me that no amount of dodging would avoid. A glint in the night sky proved just the inspiration for me to remember that I was in a machine that could fly if it needed to, and right now that was exactly what was needed.

The fighter shook hard for a moment from my rough and inexperienced handling, but was able to accelerate away from the missiles and before I knew it, I was in the unfamiliar environment of the evening sky. But even though the circumstances were strange and on the borderline of morbid, I couldn't help the feeling that came over me. The feeling of...

Rightness. Of belonging.

And all to soon, that feeling went away. A bright trail of laser energy hit the wing of my aircraft and sent me into a tumble that I had no idea how to recover from. The fact I had even gotten into the sky was accidental. Now I had no idea how to get back down to the ground. Before I could freak out anymore than I already was, one of the VF-31's that had been doing the performance with the Walkure, the same unit that had lagged behind, grabbed hold of my plane and slowed the decent of Freyja and I to a much more sedate rate.

"Pilot, are you okay?" a familiar voice asked, cool professionalism quickly confirming her identity before my frantic eyes could focus on her video feed being displayed. "Who are you?" the woman who had introduced herself as Mirage asked, clearly surprised and confused to see the person she had earlier thought to be a stowaway now in a military aircraft. Seeing as she wouldn't be getting a response from me anytime soon, the woman cut off the feed and placed my hijacked aircraft down on the ground just as the strange fighters began to retreat. I quickly got out of the machine and helped out Freyja who looked like she was in some kind of socked trance. Once I was sure she would be okay, I walked over to a fallen piece of debris and tried to sort out my thoughts.

Both an eternity and a moment seemed to pass before some one addressed me.

"You, civilian!" a demanding voice called out. I looked up to the see stern scowl of Mirage approaching me.

"Hey," I said, standing up to greet her. "Thanks for saving me," I finished, feeling a little embarrassed that I couldn't have handled myself better while I had been falling through the air. However, before I could feel much anything else, the woman launched a sucker punch right at my face that I was in no way prepared for and received fully.

"What the hell was that for?!" I asked angrily as I stumbled back a couple steps.

"Do you realize you just hijacked a military unit?" the woman asked with quick and clipped words, her eyes would've been comical were it not for the serious accusations she was leveling. "Make one mistake and the whole operation falls apart, putting the city at risk! Even the smallest lapse can cost you your life!"

"Calm down!" I yelled back at the woman, feeling that maybe half of her anger was justified, but mystified by where the remainder of her rage was coming from. What was I supposed to do about Freyja, just let her wander into that weapons fire? My actions had been justified. "Listen to me firs-"

"Don't tread on the battlefield so lightly!" the woman yelled as she grabbed my shirt and threw me against a car I had backed up against. My face began to burn with anger and embarrassment from not being able to explain my case and being man handled by the woman. Now, backed up in a corner, I decided to use everything I could to save some amount of face.

"You screwed up too!" I shouted back at her, maybe with more venom than necessary, but it was enough to get her to give me another opening at a verbal counter. "I saw you. Earlier, you were off beat when you took off!" I may not be an expert when it comes to what Walkure does, or what Delta Platoon's mission was, but I knew enough that everything about their concerts and airshows demands perfection and the highest degree of precision. While being off beat may seem like picking at pebbles, to a pilots pride, especial a demonstration one's, it is a great blow. "Aren't _you_ the one taking this too lightly?" I retorted as I swatted away her now limp hand. The look of anger on her face might have been enough to frighten someone who hadn't seen a pissed woman before, but I had worked for too many strong willed ladies to be intimidated by the face Mirage was sending me. Facing a full sized Meltran builds character.

"Mirage, what are you doing?" someone in a similar flight suit as Jenuis asked from somewhere behind her. "We're leaving." Realizing she now had superiors watching her, Mirage came to the position of attention and gave me a seemingly well rehearsed phrase.

"Please report any complaints to my superiors. Excuse me." She then executed one of the crispest about faces I had seen and walked away without a glance over her shoulder. Still feeling a little unsatisfied with the encounter, I quickly gave a vulgar gesture to her back. Much to the amusement of her superior officer. As the man and Mirage walked off to their fighters, I began to look for Freyja. I found her just as the shuttle for Walkure took off, the four VF-31's following after it.

"So, you're serious about singing with them?" I asked, already knowing what her over exaggerated response would be.

"Yes! Absolutely! 100%!" She replied, giving me one of the most determined faces I had seen on someone as young as her.

"Okay, okay, I get it!" I replied, holding my hand out for her to stop. "Look, I know a guy who owes me a couple of favors. You said you needed to get to Ragna, right?"

"... yes."

"Alright. I'll take us there. I need to find new work myself, and I hear there's some kind of festival coming up soon over on Ragna. Maybe they'll need some-"

"You'll do that for me?" the girl interrupted, her face so transparently hopeful that no one could lie to her in that moment.

"Yeah," I replied, a small smile coming to my lips at her expressive nature. It had been too long since I had been around someone this genuine.

"Really?" small tears of joy already coming Freyja's eyes.

"Whoa! Whoa! Yeah, really!" I replied, not looking to have a crying girl hang around me until I could get in contact with the man who really did owe me a couple of favors.

"Thank you!" the Windermeran cried out, wrapping her arms around me to give a crushing hug. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank y-" I began to pry off the girl as looks were sent my way.

"Yes, yes, I get it. You're happy and thankful. Can you please let go now? You're causing a scene."

"AH!" the girl shouted out in surprise, clearly having forgot about the group of people around us. "Sorry!" she shouted out as she jumped back and pressed out her clothes. I sighed for who knows what time that day. At least it was finally coming to an end and I could mark it down as the most 'off' day in my life and be done with it.

Oh how wrong I was.

* * *

 **AN: So, after watching Macross Delta, I came here looking to try and sedate my need for a happy ending for Mirage. I. Didn't. Find. It. So I decided to create it.**

 **I'll admit that my experience in the Macross universe is pretty limited, I've only seen Delta, Frontier, and Zero. But its growing! So if I make a canon mistake that I failed to research properly, my greatest apologies.**

 **That said, this story is going to be in AU territory. Not because I'm going to throw in 20 different OC's, Delta had enough underdeveloped characters as it was, but because events and relationships will be tweaked to play out in the way I want them. Most noticeably, Freyja's relationship with Hayate will not be as... significant as it was in the anime. She'll still be around to create some angst and minor plot fuel, but in the long run, I will make it clear that she never stood a chance against the clearly superior woman that is Mirage Farina Jenius.**

 **...**

 **I will try not to let my fanaticism overwhelm you. She will of course have character development as she did in the anime, but it will be further expanded and developed along with Hayate.**

 **Anyways, I hope you enjoy my attempt at giving Mirage some love. See ya when I see ya.**


	2. Taste of Risk

**Taste of Risk**

"Thanks again," I told Chester, the friend who had given Freyja and I a ride to Barrette City here on Ragna.

"We're even now, alright?" The tall brutish man replied, looking anywhere but at me, clearly not comfortable with receiving any kind of thanks.

"Yeah," I replied, half laughing at my friends unease. He was the type of man who if you came at with a knife, would pull out a rocket launcher. But if you came at him with a hug, he would be paralyzed with fear. "We're even now. See you around." As I gave a causal backwards wave to a flustered Chester, I looked for where Freyja had run off to. She couldn't have gone far, we had just arrived after all. But with as busy as the streets were, she could be ten meters away and I wouldn't be able to see her. I began to scour the area looking for her, only paying mild attention to the Ragnans hawking their wares.

"Wow!" I heard a familiar voice exclaim from up ahead. "We're on Ragna!" I looked around and soon found the bright orange and blond hair of Freyja only five or so meters in front of me. "There are so many sparkly sounds!" she said, making no sense at all. I was about to tell her as much, but my nose began to tingle out of nowhere and I let loose a loud sneeze, obviously frightening Freyja by the way she jumped at the sudden noise. However, even after the large sneeze, my nose was still tingling and it even felt like my sinuses were beginning to congest. I hadn't had a reaction like this to anything except for that one time I visited a strange cafe that had a bunch of…

Mercats.

I looked over to my side, and sure enough, giving me an annoyed expression as if my sneezing had been an affront to its existence was a big brown mercat, creatures that had the front end of a feline house cat and a backend that looked like it was stolen from a dolphin. As I glanced around with more scrutiny, I saw the strange animals all over the docks we were currently on.

"Ugh," I moaned, already hearing the slight congestion in my own voice. "Damn mercats all over the place…"

"What are you doing following me?" Freyja asked, looking at me as if I had grown a third arm. For a second, I was a little taken back. I mean, yeah, we had never really made any plans on staying together once we had arrived on Ragna, but for Freyja to give me the cold shoulder minutes after we landed… So I decided to get back at her with some light teasing.

"I came to see you fail the auditions," I replied casually. Freyja's reaction was just as exaggerated and loud as everything she did.

"I'm not gonna fail!" She shouted while her cheeks burned a bright red. She turned around with a great amount of gusto and stormed off in a random direction, leaving me to wear my amused grin before another sneeze wiped it off my face. I decided to quickly catch back up with Freyja to make sure she made it to her auditions, both because I felt at least a little concerned for her safety in the large city and because I had always been curious about Walkure's headquarters, Macross Elysion.

It didn't take long to catch up to the shorter girl, she had become sidetracked by a Ragnan selling some attachable webbing that could let a wearer swim like a 'true Ragnan'. I glanced at Freyja who was completely entranced by the sales pitch.

"I've never seen a Ragnan before," she said without looking away.

"They are more adapted to living in water than any of the other humanoid races," I began explaining. "They have gills in addition to that webbing," I told Freyja, discretely pointing at the slits on the man's neck. As she continued to ogle the man, I saw some movement out the side of my eye. Thinking they were some pick-pocket, I quickly tried to warn Freyja, but before I could, she let out a small startled cry.

"Ew! What's this icky thing!?" I looked over as she stretched out her arm in an effort to get whatever was on her arm far away from her. Just beyond her reach was a group of kids who looked pretty pleased with themselves.

"It's cheap! Buy one!" a boy, the oldest looking one of the group, said with a mischievous smile that only the most naive of people wouldn't see as predatory.

"It's a phone! Cell! Number one!" another boy quickly added, his smile just as cunning. The small girl of the group did her part by acting as cute as she could with the two thorns at her side. Normally, these kinds of hustles end in pretty bad failure. But Freyja was the perfect target.

"A phone?" the young girl said as she began to inspect the device on her wrist.

"Wai-" I began to say, reaching out to try and stop her from doing anything that might-

"Contract established. Commence payment process," the red mercat stylized phone said as it locked itself onto Freyja's arm. Now all three children had their smiles of victory as Freyja began to wave her arm around like a crazed person.

"Get it off me!" she yelled out, dampening the three young hustlers smiles only a fraction as looks were sent our way.

"Time to run!" I said as I took Freyja's arm and pulled her away from the children who were dancing some sort of victory dance at what was likely their first successful 'sale'. I pulled her along as we weaved through the crowds, gradually making our way towards the towering structure that was Macross Elysion. After a couple of minutes of running, we came to rest at an open plaza to catch our breath.

"Cities are so scary," Freyja panted as she grabbed a pole and slid down it to the ground, heaving like she hadn't run further than fifty meters her whole life. As I began to relax my own breath, I head the rolling rumble of a Variable Fighter high up in the sky. I raised my head and looked just ahead of the sound to spot a lone aircraft making its way towards Elysion.

"Look at that," I told Freyja hoping she would recover faster than it was looking it would take. Sure enough, as soon as she had something new to focus on, her energy seemed to come back quicker than a love sick dog.

"Oh my gosh! It's so big!" the girl said as she sprung back up to her feet and began walking towards the towering structure.

"That's the Macross Elysion," I began, getting up to join her as we continued to make our way to Freyja's tryouts. "It's Chaos' Ragna branch's HQ."

"So they hold the auditions there?" Freyja asked, more in confirmation than an actual question. Or so I hoped. Before I could really reply however, I heard the girl begin to make a humming noise. I glanced back at her to see her slightly hunched with her hands clenched into fists, as if she was charging up some kind of super attack a video game character might have. I then noticed her hair accessory glowing again. "My rune's running high!" she proclaimed, finally giving me a proper opening to ask about the strange heart shaped object.

"Rune? You mean that tentacle thing on your head?" Or so I thought had been a proper opening.

"Don't stare at it!" the girl quickly said as she spun around and put her hands protectively over the glowing object. "Perv!" she quickly added, the tips of her barely visible ears a bright red.

"Huh?! It's supposed to be arousing?!" I cried out in bewilderment. Perhaps if I was going to be around this Windermeran much longer, I should start studying up on their culture a little better to avoid such mistakes in the future. "Anyways, let's get going. Do you want to be late for your auditions?"

"No," Freyja said dejected, refusing to drop her hands from her head as she stormed past me towards Elysion.

"Sheesh," I muttered as I followed from a distance that I figured Freyja would appreciate. The rest of our walk was thankfully sedate, the only activity being near the base of Elysion. Reporters were all over getting coverage on the auditions, feeding Freyja's excitement as we approached the front desk where a couple of receptionist were busy with all manner of secretarial tasks.

"Um, excuse me," Freyja said a little nervously to one of the women at the desk. Once she had her attention, Freyja pulled out the flier she had shown me back on Al Shahal. "I'dliketoauditionforWalkure!" she quickly shouted out in one explosive breath. The woman sat there for a moment before she was able to process what Freyja had said. Once she had deciphered that, she turned to look at either of the women at her side. I knew the look that they were sharing and began to prepare myself for the worst possible outcome.

"Um, I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you can't enter the audition." I preemptively winced as I looked back at Freyja, who was taking her turn at processing the other woman's words.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN'T ENTER THE AUDITION?!" Freyja asked, her voice the loudest I had heard it yet. The women at the counter all had nervous looks and rightly so.

"Well, today is the final round…" the woman Freyja had been speaking to said, her voice wavering with nervousness.

"You'd need to pass the qualifier rounds first," another lady to my right said, trying to sound as helpful as she could be.

"There's qualifiers?" Freyja asked, eyes wide with fright. She quickly brought her flier back up to her eyes and scanned the bottom, the tiny print barely legible after being carried around in her pockets for who knows how long. Suddenly, the girl let out a shocked gasp, as if she was having an aneurysm. I felt like face palming myself. I had just followed a girl who overlooked quite a large technicality over 30 lightyears.

"Are you for real?" I asked the hyperactive girl as I brought my hand up to massage my temples.

"What are you doing here?"

"Oh, hey, it's dancer boy."

I had no idea who had spoken or who they were speaking about, but the approaching voices, one of them being strangely familiar, seemed to be speaking to me so I turned around. I was more than a little surprised as the woman who had punched me back on Al Shahal came towards me with a menacing stare, accompanied by a large Ragnan male who must've called me 'dancer boy'.

"Are you here to complain about me?" Mirage asked with more loathing and annoyance than could ever be expressed in mere words. I immediately remembered the angry woman's parting words, when she had told me to give any complaints to her superiors. I let out an amused chuckle that only seemed to miff the woman further.

"The world isn't all about you," I replied sarcastically, getting a weird sense of enjoyment as seeing the disciplined pilot lose their composure at my taunt. Mirage's face contorted into a mix between embarrassment and furry, however, before she could act on either emotion, Freyja, also recognizing the woman but not knowing about her more hostile nature, jumped at Mirage and latched her hands around the pilots wrists.

"You're from the Delta platoon!" Freyja yelled out hysterically, crying like a child who was… well, probably about her age. "Please let me take the audition!" It didn't take a genius to see that Mirage was clearly not used to anyone invading her personal space by the way her cheeks flushed to a bright red glow. Admittedly, anyone would be embarrassed at having the hot mess that was Freyja cry all over them. As the Windermeran continued to beg the distressed pilot for an audition, I heard one of the receptionists speaking over her headset.

"… Ah, right. In that case…" the woman finished up the call she was on and stood up to try and get Freyja's attention. "Um, miss?" Freyja, stopped mid-sentence of whatever plea she had been issuing to Mirage and looked back at the green haired woman with teary eyes. "You've received special permission to take part in the audition." Nearly everyone in the vicinity looked some level of relieved, Mirage almost more so than Freyja herself.

"Really?" Freyja asked, collapsing on top of Mirage who quickly tried to keep the girl from hitting the ground.

"So damn lucky…" I muttered under my breath. Whether it came to somehow dodging bullets on the battle field or the rules of some contest, it seemed that luck was on Freyja's side either way. Now if only I could catch a lucky break every once in a wh-

"And also…" the receptionist began, speaking to me this time. I raised a confused eyebrow at the woman as she continued to address me.

"Are you Hayate Immelmann?"

"I am," I replied, unsure what was going on. I was pretty sure I hadn't broken any laws yet, though, that situation with the phone was a little-

"Commander Arad from the Delta platoon wants to see you," the woman continued, throwing my train of thought off yet again.

"The commander?" Mirage asked as she helped Freyja to her feet.

"Me?" I asked, trying to confirm what I had been told. Why did Mirage's boss want to see me?

"Looks like the commander liked you moves, dancer boy," the large Ragnan said with a hefty pat on my shoulder.

"Ha!" Mirage let lose a forced laugh. "More like he wants to find out how you hijacked a military Variable Fighter."

"But Hayate saved me," Freyja said, sounding confused as to both why I had been summoned by this commander Arad and why Mirage was showing me such hostility. "Why would he get in trouble for that?" Mirage, at finally hearing why I had 'hijacked' the VF, began gaping like a fish, her gaze shifting between the girl she was holding in her hands and myself.

"Um…" the secretary who had delivered the news to us began, unsure of how to properly enter the conversation again. I looked back at her, deciding I had sufficiently dedicated to memory the shocked look Mirage had been sporting. "Ms?" the timid woman asked as she looked over at Freyja. "You can wait here with the other for the final auditions. Mr. Immelmann, would you mind following me?"

"I guess," I replied with a shrug, turning back towards Freyja to say goodbye. "See you around, I guess." I began to follow the green haired woman, but unsurprisingly, Freyja got a sudden burst of energy and flung herself out from Mirage's loose hold.

"Hey, wait!" The secretary and I stopped, both turning to address the child who had been causing a ruckus since arriving on the planet. "Um…" she began nervously, her cheeks beginning to burn as everyone around listened in on the usually loud girl. "Thanks for-" she continued in an uncharacteristically shy and soft voice before I cut her off, deciding to save her from the embarrassment she seemed to be going through.

"I'm not giving you a ride back home," I said with a small smirk. Freyja looked back up from the floor she had begun to focus on with confusion and surprise. "Once you're done failing, you're on your own," I elaborated, hoping she would see my smile and understand I was just teasing her some more. I honestly hoped she did well in her auditions, she had seemed to enjoy herself immensely back on Al Shahal when she had sung with Walkure. The small smile that came across her still red cheeks proved to me she had interpreted my teasing successfully.

"I'm not gonna fail!" she shouted regardless, causing me to smile just a bit more. I turned around, and seeing that I was ready to go, the secretary began to lead me to this commander Arad once again.

The walk through Elysion was somewhat dizzying. There were countless hallways that branched off countless others, numbers and letters that seemed to be thrown together without rhyme or reason painted on every other wall, and personnel constantly walking in and out of doors that all hissed open and close. So, when a large window came up on my right, I was immediately drawn to it, the familiarity of the blue sky it showed instantly calming me from the unfamiliarity Elysion was proving to hold. As I continued to gaze out the window, my vision came upon some parked VF's.

My mind flashed back to the memory I had of flying through the sky back on Al Shahal, the brief moment of… correctness I had felt before being unceremoniously shot down. Shaking myself from the pleasurable memory, I looked back to where I expected the secretary to be waiting, only to find she was nowhere in sight, dozens of other people milling through the space I had expected her to occupy.

"Shit," I murmured, beginning to feel a slight panic. There was no way I knew of to track the secretary back down, and I hadn't been paying enough attention to go back to where we had come from. I looked back out the window to try and sooth my nerves again, finding my eyes drawn back to the aircraft like a magnet. This Arad guy was supposed to be the commander of Delta Platoon, right? He'd have to come get his plane sooner or later…

It was surprisingly easy to get to the flight deck the planes were on, I just had to follow the signs that said, 'PILOT AND MAINTENCE CREW ONLY'. None of the doors were locked and the people around me must've assumed I was authorized to enter if I had already made it this far. Once I had stepped outside, I immediately felt the stress and anxiety that had been building while I had been inside Elysion fall away. The gentle breeze was just enough to make the hot surface of the runway cool and comfortable, and the scent was the freshest I had smelled in a while.

A VF-31 near me that was accented in an imperial purple paint job caught my interest. As I began to walk closer to the plane, I heard a couple of mechanics who were doing maintenance talking.

"DGS status normal," the mechanic on the ladder that went up into the cockpit of the craft reported to the other man. "Hand me the wrench, will ya?"

"Yeah, yeah," the other guy replied as he turned around to reach into a bin of tools on a cart near the plane. As he was passing the wrench to his partner, the man guy noticed me as I was looking at the large 04 painted on the side of the VF. "Who's that?" the man asked his older counterpart.

"That's a new face," the older man replied as he lowered himself down the ladder. "You a rookie?" the man called out to me, clearly not worried about some stranger standing beside his ward. Clearly everyone here had a lot of faith in their security measures. Not wanting to set off a panic, but not wanting to lie to the genuine seeming man either, I went with a possible half-truth.

"Kind of," I replied as I shifted my focus on the deadly looking laser that was attached to the wing I was under.

"'Kind of' he says," the older man laughed. He watched me study the plane a moment more before he asked another question. "Sorry if it seems silly of me to ask, but do you like planes?"

"I like flying in them," I answered, turning to face the man.

"Ha! Now there's an answer you expect from a pilot!" the man said as he elbowed the mechanic beside him. He began removing his gloves and walked up to me, putting his hand out to shake. "The name's Theodore, and that's Perry. When you start flying?" he asked as I shook his rough hands.

"Hayate Immelmann. Soon, I hope," I replied, a small smile coming to my face both at the man's demeanor and at the prospect of possibly flying again.

"Well aren't you a flyboy through and through," the man said as he clapped my shoulder. "You ever handle a VF-31 Siegfried before?" the man asked as Perry came over and shook my hand, all three of us turning to look at the aircraft after the exchanged greetings.

"No," I replied, looking over every inch of the craft and feeling an overwhelming excitement build up in me at even being near such a powerful and graceful looking machine. I bet I could really make this one dance…

"Well, you're in for a treat," the man said as he ogled the plane with me. "She can be a handful if you aren't mindful of her quirks, but once you've built up that rapport, she'll do laps around everything else out there."

"I'll believe it," I replied, thinking back to the battle that had taken up the whole sky back on Al Shahal.

"You know who your instructor will be?" The jovial man asked, glancing back down at me for a moment.

"Not yet," I replied, still unable to tear my gaze from the plane.

"Lieutenant Ihlefeld's probably the best pilot for the job from a purely instructional point of view," the man began saying as he looked back towards the plane with me. "But, from every other angle, putting him with someone who isn't going to be as proficient as him right off the bat is a very bad idea." The mechanic fished with a sigh. "Well, it was nice to meet you Mr. Immelmann. Do me a favor and try and treat whatever plane becomes yours with some love. It makes my job a little easier to do." I laughed nervously as I remembered what happened to the last plane I had flown.

"Will do," I replied regardless, shaking the man's hand one last time as he and Perry went back to doing maintenance. I began to walk around the other parked planes, losing track of time and myself as I took in the beautiful machines. At some point, my mind was pulled away from the metallic frames before me to the sound of a bird who's repeated calls weren't quite annoying, but frequent and loud enough to be a distraction. I looked up at the mostly white avian, bringing my hand up behind it and putting my thumb and little finger out as if they were the forward swept wings of the VF-31's I had been studying for who knows how long. I pretended for a moment my hand was an aircraft fighting a giant bird, but the make-believe quickly proved to be boring as the bird didn't seem to understand my hand was in the perfect position to take it out and refused to move as if it's life depended on it.

"You showed off some impressive moves the other day," a voice suddenly called out from behind me, further removing me away from my little game with the bird. I turned around to see an older man, the one who had seemed to be in charge of Mirage back on Al Shahal. "I'm the commander of the Delta platoon, Arad Molders." To his right was another guy, maybe four of five years older than me and about eight to ten centimeters taller than the commander Molders.

"I was taken down in a flash," I replied, not sure what the man was talking about. "It was my first time flying a plane."

"But you seemed proficient at controlling a battroid," the man clarified, a small smile never quite leaving his face.

"I've used workroids for work," I replied a little redundantly. Or maybe not. If I had simply said I used workroids, he might have assumed I had hijacked those too. Mirage no doubt had told him about my unauthorized use of a military asset…

"I see," the man said simply, putting my mind a little more at ease. Maybe Mirage hadn't submitted her thirty page report yet. Ha. I laughed at the thought of the auburn haired woman writing a dissertationafter each sortie only for the commander in front of me to give it a rough glance before deleting the large file from whatever device he read it from. My fantasy was interrupted by a voice that sounded as if being here was some colossal waste of time and any other activity would be more productive.

"You seem to move around a lot," the taller man beside the commander began, looking at a device he held in his hand. I got kind of frustrated that the guy had all my personal information right in front of him, and as to prove that was exactly what it was, he began to list off all the places I had lived in the last couple of years since leaving home. "Listania. Ebel. Gregor. Different jobs on every planet."

"So what?" I asked, perhaps more defensively than needed, but the guy was bugging me. Clearly, he wasn't used to being spoken back to. The man gave me a disbelieving look, as if my question to him was the most inappropriate or insulting thing I could do at the moment.

"Commander Arad, this is a waste of time," the tall black haired bastard told the still smirking commander, his roguish appearance only intensifying as his smirk grew almost imperceptibly.

"Hold on now," I demanded more than asked. Both sets of eyes met mine, one pair daring me to continue, the other, well, they were also daring me, but it was the kind of daring look that gave you that extra push to go ahead rather than a gaze to intimidate.

"You're the one who asked for me," I continued, not even looking at the man to the right of commander Arad. This clearly only antagonized the prick to his right, a result that I wasn't unhappy with.

"Who do you think-"

"Well," the commander began, also ignoring the man to his right, nearly making me laugh a little as the man's dark eyes briefly widened with disbelief before his strict discipline made him fall back into a mask of indifference that was thinly covering his seething mood. "I thought you could fly for us if you felt like it," the commander continued, confirming what I had been feeling the whole time I had been on my way to see the man. Regardless, suspecting and confirming are two different things that aren't always mutually assured. As I continued to process what saying yes to this man's proposal meant, the commander walked to the edge of the platform behind me.

"How did flying feel?" the commander asked. I opened my mouth to begin speaking, but there were no words I could find to do what I felt justice. "Come here," the man said, seeming to have felt my hesitance. However, my movement to his side, to the sheer and sudden edge of the platform,came without a second thought.

"If you fall, you die," the man said plainly. "You risk your life," he continued, glancing at me out of the corner of his eye, seeing me standing toe to toe with the edge of the platform. "But you still take off. That's the fate of those who've tasted the wind." His smile he had worn the whole time grew yet another marginal amount. "You've tasted it too, haven't you?" the commander asked making a slight nod towards my feet at the edge. "The rest is whether you fly or not, whether you're willing to risk your life."

Almost as if it had been coordinated, a VF-31 flew a shallow upward arc a couple hundred meters away, the plane sounding like it was sheering the very wind it was flying through. I took a large breath and blinked my eyes, trying to clear my mind to make a rational decision and not an emotional one. I began to walk along the edge of the platform, the proximity to the wide open sky somehow making my mind clear. The cool breeze continued to flow across the flight deck we were all on, occasionally getting strong enough to move my necklace. I looked down at the purple crystal that was the only real reminder of my father I carried around. Perhaps it was my nerves, or maybe the constant breeze moving it, but the crystal somehow felt… active. Humming maybe. I took another deep breath again. A humming necklace? I really needed to focus right now. I looked back up at the plane that had flown by.

"Risk my life, huh?" I stopped my walk and turned to put my back to the ledge. Risk my life. Commander Arad had asked if I had tasted the wind. Had the feeling back on Al Shahal been what that was? How could I be sure.

The breeze again picked up a little more and this time I was sure of it, my necklace began to hum.

"Wha…" I began to ask before a whisper that very well could have been the wind itself spoke to me.

 _Risk you life._

The breeze suddenly stopped and there was dead silence. But now the whisper, without anything trying speak over it, gave one simple command that in the silence sounded like a shout.

 _Jump._

And I did.

But before the startled gasps of either commander Arad or the man who had accompanied him could reach my ears, a gust of air more powerful than I had ever experienced blew at my back, lifting me the few centimeters I had fallen and then some. When I touched back down on the flight deck, I was too stunned to move for many reasons. Why had I even done that? Who, or even what, had whispered to me? Why did it feel like the crystal of my necklace that had practically been vibrating half a second ago seem to be completely normal again?

"You've got guts," a stunned commander Arad began, pulling me from my daze. "But maybe try not to take everything I say in the future quite so literally," he nervously joked as the man who had followed him seemed to mutter something under his breath. I finial recovered enough from the adrenaline pumping though my veins to stand back up normally.

"That… that felt nice," I finally stated. My ears were still pounding and it felt like I could run a mile without any fatigue. In front of me was the purple accented plane again. I walked towards it with a slightly frenetic look in my eyes. Once I reached the craft, I ran my hand over its sleek aluminum.

"I hate the army," I said, thinking of my father who I knew had been in NUNS. I didn't hate my father, far from it, but I hated the organization that had taken him away from me.

"So do I," the commander said. For a split moment, I thought he was just saying it, but perhaps his rouge look meant more than just a fashion statement.

"Taking orders too," I added, seeing if I could push my luck. "So I'll play by my own rules." After all, that was the way I had lived my life before and look where it got me now.

"Commander Arad?" the third wheel muttered. Ignoring him like I had been all along, I spoke words of affirmation to myself.

"I'll fly the skies with this beauty."

Oh how wrong I was.

* * *

 **AN: Not every chapter will end with 'Oh how wrong I was.' I promise. It just worked out that way. A quick question to a certain reviewer and anyone else out there who wants something to think about. Does't death have its own meaning? There is a reason losing someone in a video game, tv show or book is a hard thing to go through. Not saying that I won't save certain characters, but I'm not saying I will either. Does saving a character from their fate cheapen their life?**

 **...**

 **Anywho, I hope you enjoyed the second chapter. Thank you for taking the time to read, your interest helps keep me on course.**


	3. Bernoulli's Principle

**Bernoulli's Principle**

"Get away from her!" an angry voice called out, startling me more than I had been in a long time. "Don't you lay a finger on my plane!" Ah. That was why it had looked familiar. I pulled my hand away from the aircraft and turned to face a fuming Mirage as she stalked towards me, her light blue eyes smoldering with anger. It seemed I couldn't do right by this woman, not that I had been trying or anything, but still…

"Commander Arad," Mirage began as she continued to make her way towards me. I stood my ground as she swiftly closed in on me, not wanting to show any weakness to anyone present. "Are you seriously trying to recruit this walking disaster?" It took a lot of self control for my only reaction to that remark to be a slight twitch, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw the brown haired commander continue to sport his playful smirk and give a shoulder shrug to Mirage's question. "I recall telling you not to take the battlefield lightly," Mirage continued, not paying attention to what her commander thought of our small confrontation.

"I don't care much for swinging big guns around," I told the pilot in front of me. "I'm here to fly."

"Oh?" Mirage asked, a dangerously fake expression of understanding coming across her face. "You want to fly? Well, then…" her eyes narrowed as if she had finally caught an annoying mosquito after hours of careful planing.

"Commander, do we have a spare flight suit?" Mirage suddenly asked, her blue eyes not leaving my own.

"Heh," commander Arad lightly chuckled before answering. "Yes. Yes we do." The man finally uncrossed his arms and waved over to me. "Hayate, come with me." I was tempted to continue my staring contest with Mirage until we collapsed from hunger or dehydration, but…

"This isn't over," I murmured just loud enough for Mirage to hear as I began to walk away with the commander. Before she disappeared from sight, I could see her dangerous expression only grow, an almost feral grin following me as I left the flight deck.

Commander Arad quickly lead me through a couple of doors to a ready room with some spare flight suits hanging and ready.

"I hope you had a light breakfast," the commander laughed as I began changing. I was slightly worried at this point, I hadn't ever really been on anything more rough than some amusement park rides when I was a child, and even those I was sure were nothing compared to a military variable fighter. I zipped up the last part of my suit and grabbed the helmet that went with my suit, heading back outside with the commander. We waited outside for a couple of moments while Mirage got changed and some personnel who had been outside finishing their maintenance did some last minute checks on Mirage's plane. When the female pilot came out, I had to remind myself that the woman before me was an enemy, or at the very least a rival, and not something to be… admired. It wasn't the first time I had seen the woman in her flight suit, but it was the first time I had seen her in the day and with a somewhat clearer mind.

After some quick words with the mechanics tending her plane, Mirage shot me a look and simply pointed at the rear seat of the cockpit. I put on my best face of defiance and put my helmet on with as much confidence as I could, not hesitating while I walked towards the ladder that had been extended for me.

Once we were both in the plane, it was a quick couple of checks before we were beginning to hurdle down the runway at crazy speeds. But the craziness didn't stop there. The woman was handling the plane as if she was trying to shake off a persistent enemy, with sharp turns, accelerations and rolls every couple of moments. I grunted and gritted my teeth just to maintain conciseness and the minimal amount of concentration required to still be able to understand what was going on.

"Are you enjoying the skies yet?" the woman asked, her voice completely at ease in every way, laced with just the right amount of teasing coyness to bolster my efforts to maintain my rebellious nature even now.

"I'M LOVING IT!" I shouted back in response, grunting through the whole statement. I knew I wasn't fooling anyone with how much of an issue I was having at trying to maintain conciseness, but that wasn't my goal right now. My goal was to defy Mirage's pitiful expectations of me. And I felt like I was succeeding if her annoyed 'tisk' of displeasure was anything to go by. So of course she only tried harder. And in turn, my efforts only increased. After what seemed an eternity, a voice came over the radio.

"Mirage, come on in, Theodore's saying you're straining the frame too much." Mirage gave another grunt of displeasure before responding.

"Roger." She still whipped the plane around to get us back to the platform, but it was otherwise a comparatively pleasant flight back. If Mirage's normal piloting was usually this graceful, it probably would've put me to sleep. I was beginning to think that everything would be alright as soon as we got out, but my stomach disagreed. Apparently it didn't like going from stationary to flips and turns to stationary again in rapid succession. As soon as I was out of the craft, I was hunched over and spewing, hardly removing the helmet fast enough.

"Do you get it now?" Mirage asked, a smirk in her voice that irked me more than… more than it irked me that I couldn't find something that I could compare my level of irked-ness to.

"Mirage, that's exactly why I'm assigning you to be Cadet Hayate's training officer," I heard commander Arad say.

"What?!" Mirage quickly asked for the both of us as I tried to recover.

"I want him up to speed in a month," the commander replied, his foot steps starting to travel away from Mirage and myself.

"W-wait! Commander Arad!" Mirage called after the man, clearly in distress.

I thought I had finally recovered enough to trade some verbal spares with Mirage after her sound defeat at the hands of her own commander.

"The skies…" My stomach was severely disagreeing with my minds assessment of my state of readiness, but I tried pushing on. I stood up straight, much to the protest of my body, and tried speaking to a startled looking Mirage. "… are waiting…" The queasiness I was feeling was beginning to peak again, but I had to deliver my line. "… for-" I couldn't do it. I heaved as I was facing the woman and received an appropriate disgusted reaction from her as the remainder of my breakfast came up. Once she had regained enough of her facilities to leave, she did at a rapid pace that would've made me laugh if I was feeling any better.

"That's one way to make an impression," a familiar aged voice said as I finally started to feel a little better and was able to stand up fully without any heaving. "Though I don't think it was necessarily the best one to make," Theodore finished, a slight chuckle in his voice as he approached with a towel, Perry bringing up the rear with a bucket and mop.

"Almost any impression would have been an improvement over what she had of me before," I replied as I caught the towel Theodore had tossed at me.

"Oh?" Theodore laughed as I walked over to Perry and took the mop to begin cleaning up my mess. The man looked a little surprised at me, clearly have been expecting to do the job himself, but didn't try to take the task once I had begun. "I can't imagine she thought that badly of you," the older mechanic said as I began to try and get the small piles of half digested food off the black surface of the flight deck.

"Well, when we first met, it might have been seen as me… um… doing things with a minor," I slowly admitted as I focused intently on my job.

"Oh." Theodore said simply.

"I wasn't of course!" I quickly clarified, hoping I wasn't alienating my self further form the people I would probably be around for the foreseeable future.

"Of course, of course," Theodore responded, only half convincing me he meant it.

"And then I had… um… I guess borrowed? a military variable fighter during a battle with Zentradi who were under var influence."

"Borrowed?" Perry asked from his place he had been watching me from.

"Well, I wasn't planing on keeping it, that's for sure," I replied defensively.

"Sure, sure," the man quickly said, waving his hands in a placating motion. I sighed heavily as I temporarily paused my cleaning efforts.

"Heh," Theodore lightly laughed seeing my exhausted reaction. "Well, if you're hoping to improve any kind of view Miss Jenius has of you, I'm going to suggest you don't make light of what the commander just said."

"Huh?" I asked, not quite remembering what the man had said in the first place. Theodore just gave an even more hearty laugh at that.

"I guess you were a little… in disposed at the moment." the man lightly teased before relaying what the commander had said while I had been recovering from Mirage's flying. "You're basically going to be studying under Mirage's wing. She's an excellent pilot, from a technical standpoint at least. Everything you'll need to know, she'll be able to teach you. As for the instinctual part of piloting…" the man squinted over me as I continued to prop myself up using the handle of the mop I had been using. "I think you might be able to handle that part on you own," he finished with an aged smile. "After that stunt you pulled with the commander and Lieutenant Ihlefeld, I think you'll be able to read the skies pretty easily."

The rest of the day was largely relaxed comparatively. I did have to sign some documents with the secretary who had lost me earlier. She seemed to be very upset with me that I hadn't been following her closer, but was quick to drop it as soon as I apologized. I may not be a law man, but the contract seemed to be a pretty lenient document. I wondered if the commander had drafted it specifically for me after my requests or if it was like that for the other pilots as well. Deciding not to look the gift horse in the mouth, I signed the documents and was told I had the rest of the day to indulge myself after I was handed a flight jacket I had seen the other members of Delta Platoon wearing.I asked around a bit about the auditions, but quickly found out that no new members had been added to Walkure. My mood was dampened after that bit of news, and I began to shift my efforts at trying to find Freyja again.

The girl had seemed so dead set on joining the Walkure that for her not to be able to join after she had shared her passion with me seemed to feel like a personal loss. I spent a fair amount of time trying to back track to the secretary I had signed my papers with to see if I could get any clues on the young Windermeran I had been traveling with.

"Oh. Well, she got a, um… special audition," the woman replied, not fully meeting my eyes for whatever reason.

"A special audition?" I asked, unsure of what that even would begin to mean. Walkure was already a pretty special group of singers, how someone could have more special on top of that seemed to be some kind of challenge.

"Well, maybe more… non-traditional would be a better term… ?" the woman seemed to ask herself, still not giving me a more direct answer.

"Well, can you just tell me where she is?" I asked, getting slightly annoyed at the obtuse answers. "She's probably pretty distraught right now and I'm not sure what kind of… damage… someone with her energy reserves can do when they're not in a stable emotional sta-"

"Why would she be distraught?" the woman quickly interrupted, her eyes showing some genuine concern that made me pause for a moment. I had thought it pretty clear that Freyja wanted to get on to Walkure with her rather embarrassing display earlier today, but perhaps this woman was just out of touch or something.

"Well, I think she just might be upset she didn't make it, is all," I explained to the woman who suddenly seemed to understand why I had been wanting to find the bright haired woman.

"Oh!" she replied, a happy smile coming over her face that didn't make sense until her next statement. "Freyja did make it on Walkure. She didn't make it through the normal auditions, but we had suspected something special about her and gave a rather… unusual second chance. She passed with flying colors. You can probably meet her back down in Barrette City. I think Chuck said something about a Kinoko Cafe. It's right where you got on the trains to get up here," the secretary finished helpfully.

"Thank you, uh…" I trailed off, not remembering having ever caught her name.

"Oh!" the woman said surprised again. "Yuri. Mizuki Yuri," she introduced.

"Thank you Miss Yuri," I told the woman as I headed for the door so I could go congratulate Freyja. It didn't take long to find the Cafe she had told me about, it was practically right there as soon as I walked of the tram I had ridden back down into the city. I looked around hoping to spot the bright haired young girl and wasn't disappointed when I found her sitting by herself and mumbling like a crazy person. I tossed my flight jacket at her to both surprise her and save herself from whatever kinds of things she may have been mumbling about. I was amused by her reaction as she flailed under the garment and eventually removed it, looking around for the owner of the clothing item. Upon spotting me, her eyes widened in shock.

"What?! Hayate!"

"Hi!" I replied, a small smile on my face as I moved to sit with the young girl.

"You're still on Ragna?" the girl asked, putting the jacket I had thrown on her down on the table in front of her. She suddenly seemed to realize that the jacket she had just put down belonged to me. "What's up with the uniform?"

"Oh," I replied as nonchalant as I could. "I joined the Delta platoon." Again, her surprised reaction was worth the effort I was putting in at staying casual about the whole thing.

"What? Really?" she quickly asked, again looking at me with shock in her eyes.

"I heard about the audition," I continued, my happiness for the girl coming through in a light smirk. She began to do a fairly creepy laugh that I at first thought was forced, but soon realized was, in fact, genuine. "Aren't you the lucky one?" I asked her, finding myself using the same line I had when she had been allowed to do the auditions without the preliminary audition.

"Sorry for the wait, Freyja," a voice I had remembered hearing earlier today called out, breaking Freyja from her laugh. I glanced to the source and saw the large man who had been with Mirage earlier and a woman that looked vaguely familiar walking towards us. Luckily, it seemed Mirage was absent for the time being.

"Shall we get going?" the woman asked, glancing at me and back at Freyja.

"Fo' sho!" Freyja replied happily, jumping up from her spot and pumping both her arms as if she needed to psych herself up for some kind of show. I reached over and grabbed my new flight jacket before standing up, the new uniform catching the large mans eye.

"So you must be Hayate Immelmann," he said while sticking out his hand as Freyja and the unknown woman continued ahead. "Chuck Mustang, number three of Delta flight." I reached out and shook the offered hand, glad that at least one member of the team I now found myself on was at least appearing to be friendly. Chuck and I joined the two woman and began to walk down the stone streets.

"Where we headed?" I asked Chuck as we continued down the nice sidewalks of the city, getting closer and closer to the water front.

"Well, we try and stay off Elysion as much as we can, it helps us from hating the place when we need to stay on it for longer periods of time. Because of that, we all live out in town. I'm guessing you don't have a place set up for yourself yet, right?" Chuck asked, giving me a questioning sidelong glance.

"No," I replied, shaking my head in tandem with my answer.

"Then you can lodge with us guys over at my place. I've got a spare bed and everything, so don't worry about it. Just… your room mate… Messer is just kind of… leave him his space and you'll be fine."

"Messer?" I asked, not sure if I liked the sound of this person. "Who's Messer?"

"A good man," the woman, who I still didn't know the name of, quickly replied. Chuck suddenly looked like he had been shot and quickly ran up beside the woman.

"Kaname, why don't I come over with a plate of delicious local jellyfish dumpling-" Chuck began quickly, speaking as if he was trying to repair whatever untold damage he had just caused.

"Sorry," the woman I now assumed to be Kaname replied unconvincingly. "Our dorms are female-only."

"Figures," Chuck replied with faux happiness.

"Wow," Freyja said as she fell back into step with me behind Chuck and Kaname. "I guess I'll be living in this city now," the bright haired girl said with a sense of wonder never leaving her voice.

"I didn't expect this either," I added in, speaking nothing but the truth. I had expected to wander around jobless for a month or so while I tired to pick up some seasonal work. To have picked up such a high profile job within hours of arriving on this planet… someone was looking out for me. My thoughts went to earlier today when I had heard the whispers in the wind and subconsciously, my hand went to rub the crystal that hung around my neck. While I lost myself in thinking, we finally came to where we had been headed, some kind of restaurant right on the waterfront that had a large sign that claimed the establishment to be named Ragnyannyan.

"Welcome to my humble abode and male quarters of the Delta Platoon: Ragnyannyan," Chuck said with a grandiose gesture to the building behind him. I smiled slightly at both the name and the good luck I believed I had once again come across. A place to live that also constantly had a large supply of good food? Never had I had so much luck in one day.

Well, it hadn't all been good. There was that whole loosing my lunch thing…

"Ragnyannyan?" Freyja asked, reflecting my curiosity behind the name. Before he could elaborate, Chuck was pulled from us by a cry coming from the front of the restaurant.

"Bro!" a young male voice called out.

"Welcome home!" a familiar group of kids chorused as they rushed out the doors of the establishment. I balked in recognition while Freyja decided to use her words to express her surprise.

"It's those kids!" she said, her eyes going wide with shock.

"The phone thief!" One of the children yelled while the other two looked just as surprised.

"Thief?" Kaname asked while turning to Freyja who looked like she had clammed up all the sudden.

"Thief!" the children yelled in confirmation as they began to hoot and holler like a pack of wild animals.

"Well, I just…" Freyja tried as she brought up her arm with the strange phone wrapped around it. With the constant yelling in the background however, Freyja was looking like she was fighting a losing battle.

"How's that right?" I yelled at the children in an effort to help out my traveling companion. "You guys put it on her-" I was suddenly interrupted by the sound of shattering glass coming from within the restaurant. All shouting stopped as everyone turned their attention to a quick brown creature that was jumping from table to table on the outside patio of the restaurant.

"A mercat?!" one of the patrons yelled in surprise as the animal landed on his plate of food with a large cooked fish in its mouth.

"What the hell?!" another customer exclaimed as they jumped away from the agile creature. I let out a small sigh as I realized my new accommodations wouldn't be mercat proof. So much for getting rid of this stuffiness…

"That's my dinner!" someone yelled from inside, a woman with pink hair and an… ample chest quickly coming outside followed by a tomboy-ish looking girl with a green pixy haircut.

"Cheeky kitty," the girl with green hair sighed, looking at the mercat with loathing.

"You again?!" a Ragnan female who was even more busty than the pink haired woman said in an exacerbated tone. She began to stomp towards the animal in anger, quickly provoking the creature to jump and take off again. "Hold it!" she yelled after the aquatic nuance as she chased it off the balcony of the patio. When she realized her yelling was going unhindered, she called down to Chuck who was still trying to figure out why Freyja had been called a theif.

"Chuck, it's yours!" Delta flights number three was quick to grasp the situation and stepped in front of the mercats rout to the water. The man's two younger brothers also came to his aide in their sudden showdown against the seemingly disadvantaged animal.

"Aloha," All three greeted menacingly, as if their words and intent behind them wouldn't be lost on the creature. Before any of the three Ragnans could move, the mercat had already sprung at all three of them, swiftly dispensing pain with it's flippered tail. I winced in sympathetic pain for them that quickly became all too real as the grizzled mercat jumped at me as well and gave me a solid slap across the face. The force of the blow was enough to throw my unreadied ass to the ground and I could hear Freyja and the woman who I had only known for a couple of minutes mutter sounds of sympathy.

"What the hell?" I asked aloud, quickly finding the creature looking conceitedly at all four of its victims. "I didn't do jack shit to you!" In response, the mercat simple ate its prize whole and swam beneath the water to go harass some other unfortunate people. "Freaking mercats…" I muttered as I began to get back up, my attempt interrupted by an involuntary sneeze.

"Are you okay?" Freyja asked, coming and bending over me to give my cheek an appraising look over.

"Are you allergic to cats by any chance?" Kaname asked, also looking at where the mercat had slapped me.

"I'm not letting it get away next time!" I promised myself as I rubbed my nose in vain to try and get the stuffiness to go away.

"You're in my way," an irritated voice cut in, the impatience of the tone grating on my nerves harder than the statement would usually cause. I looked to see who the impatient prick was only to find it was the same guy who had been with the commander earlier today when they had found me out on the flight deck. Now the tone made sense.

"Oh, you." I replied, not entirely too happy to see the man here.

"Messer!" the well endowed Ragnan called out, her tone letting me know that she most definitely didn't share my impression of the man. "Welcome home!" she finished happily, taking me back for a moment. Did that mean…?

"Oh," I said, giving my sudden insight a voice. "We're roommates."

"Great timing," Kaname said happily, her tone not making just as much sense to me as the Ragnans. Which was none. No sense what-so-ever. "Wanna have dinner with us?"

"I'll pass," the man said, bring a wave of relief over me. "I already ate."

"I see," the Kaname replied, her tone of hopefulness seemingly undimmed by the cold response. "Next time then." I silently hoped that a next time would never come. My lingering allergy induced sneeze, however, would wait for no man and promptly reminded both Freyja and Kaname of my presence.

We all ate big meals that night, each of us hungry for our own reasons, my chief one being the vacancy I had created in my stomach earlier that day and Freyja's even larger than normal appetite coming from her auditions earlier. I learned that Kaname was part of Walkure too, explaining why she had seemed familiar, and that the green and pinked haired woman, Reina and Makina,were also part of the singing group. It felt weird to be eating with a bunch of galactic Idols at first, but it's surprising how quickly your mind adjusts when you're hungry. The women left almost as soon as we had all finished eating, as it was already getting pretty late and Freyja and my own training would be starting tomorrow. After seeing the four off, Chuck lended me some sheets for my bed upstairs and I quietly made my way to the room, mindful of the dark haired man who I didn't want to wake for any reason. As soon as My head hit the pillow, I was out.

"Get up."

A cold hard voice broke through whatever dream I had been having and brought me back to the dimly lit room above Ragnyannyan.

"Get up," the impersonal voice repeated. I looked over towards the door of the room to see the tall and intimidating form of Messer half way through the frame. "You have thirty minutes to get to Elysion. Set an alarm next time, I'm not going to wake you again." With that, the man efficiently fished his transit through the door and closed it, not softly, but not hard enough to be considered a slam. I sat there for a minute until what the man had actually said to me registered.

"Thirty minutes!?" I cried out suddenly, shooting out of my bed and throwing on the clothes I had hastily thrown on the floor last night in an effort to get into bed as quickly as possible. In a blazing five minutes, I was practically tumbling down the stairs as a startled Chuck greeted me just as he was walking out the front doors.

"Morning… Hayate?" the dark skinned man asked, clearly wondering at my rushed entrance.

"Woke up late," I quickly explained out of breath as I joined him near the door.

"Oh," The man said, understanding coming upon him followed by some guilt. "Sorry about that, I guess it would've been nice to know when to get up, huh?"

"Oh, don't worry about it," I said, mildly joking. "Messer had your back today. I guess I'll need to grab an alarm clock or something after training today."

"Don't worry about that," Chuck said as we continued walking together. "I'm sure I've got an old one you can have."

"Thanks," I said, again glad that at least one person in my new work group was treating me well. We continued to make small talk the rest of the way to Elysion and I even arrived ten minutes before I had to. Commander Arad had raised a surprised eyebrow, clearly surprised that I had shown up on time, and even though it was grudgingly, I managed to say a thank you to Messer who simply 'humphed' at my effort.

Then there was Mirage.

"Good to see you didn't choke on your vomit in your sleep," the woman said in greeting, setting the tone for the day.

"Good to see the robot's recharged their batteries," I returned, getting a subdued chuckle from Chuck and a slight twitch in the commanders ever present smirk. Mirage's face quickly darkened with both anger and embarrassment.

"Mirage," the commander asked, jumping in before Mirage could say anything back. "What do you have planned for Mr. Immelmann today?"

"A couple of simple tests and concepts that anyone with half a brain could ace. As such, I have fears that it may be too much for our newest member," she haughtily answered.

"A test?" I asked. "What's that got to do with flying?"

"If I'm going to be teaching you how to fly, as ludicrous of an ideas it is, I need to be sure you'll understand the words and concepts I'll use to correct your many deficiencies," Mirage quickly answered.

"Ensuring he has a solid foundation," Messer said to himself, but at a volume that everyone could hear regardless. "A good call." The commander nodded in agreement.

"Seems like you're off to a good start then," Arad said as he stood up to leave the large briefing room. "Let me know what the results are and what you plan on doing after he's done."

"Yes sir," Mirage replied crisply with a salute that the commander lazily returned. He, Messer and Chuck left after that, with Chuck giving me a thumbs up and a quick 'good luck' before leaving. Once they were out the door, I turned my attention back to Mirage. We had a staring contest for a good twenty seconds until she huffed and grabbed a small stack of papers behind her.

"Paper, huh?" I said, noticing the antiquated medium. "Going the old school route."

"No talking during the test!" Mirage said sternly with a heavy scowl as she dropped the papers off in front of me and quickly retreated back to the podium where she had a chair and data pad waiting for her. "I didn't want to risk giving you the test on an electronic medium in case you met my expectations and tried to cheat," Mirage explained. I wasn't sure if she was just trying to get a rise out of me at this point, and if I had cared about what Mirage thought of me, that may have hurt. But as it was, I was finding myself more amused by her efforts than anything. "Why can't I talk?" I asked, deciding to ignore her depreciating remarks for now and causing the woman's brow to twitch slightly which I found oddly satisfying. "Who can I ask or talk to for help? You certainly don't seem like you want to give me any." Mirage put on a deep scowl which ruined her… somewhat… pretty face.

"Despite what you may think, Mr. Immelmann," she began with a low and somewhat threatening tone that I almost had to strain to hear. "I do not want you to fail. In fact, it's quite the opposite. You failing would look very bad on me after the commander left me with such an important task as training anew member. I will admit that I don't think you have what it takes to become an effective _fighter_ pilot, but I will try my hardest to make you a competent pilot." The air between us was silent and still for a few moments as I sat there taking in her words. She then relaxed her face and took a deep calming breath before speaking again returning to her professional tone. "Now, no talking and take your test. You have an hour which is overkill if you ask me," she finished with a mumble. Mirage then sat in her chair and began reading off of her data-pad.

I continued to sit there for another moment, thinking about what she had just said to me. My performance was going to reflect Mirage's efforts in some way, and I could tell that despite her loathing of me, she was going to put in the genuine effort to make me a 'competent pilot.'

"Hayate!" the woman suddenly yelled out, startling me from my thinking. "Focus!You're down to fifty now." Shit! I spent ten minutes just sitting there?! I quickly opened up the paper booklet in front of me and began answering the questions. There were some pretty simple questions,like what certain movements of the plane were called, or what the three different modes of operation were for Variable Fighters. Some of the other stuff was admittedly outside my knowledge base. I had no idea how the concept of lift actually worked beyond, 'go fast with wings to fly.' And then there were even some physics problems that dealt with propellant management in zero atmosphere environments. Half a brain my ass! I gave Mirage my best stink eye when I came across these obviously difficult problems, but my efforts were in vain as she was clearly engrossed in whatever she was doing. I just sighed and gave the tougher questions my best go and hoped that I had enough points in the more simple sections to carry me through. Before I knew it, Mirage called time and pulled the sheets of paper from my grasp while I was still trying to fill in one last question.

"This is admittedly better than what I expected," Mirage said quietly under her breath once she had looked over the paper for a couple of minutes. "But much worse than I had hopped," she finished loudly, eyeing my raised brow. "We'll need to do some book work, but not much."

"Aw, come on!" I replied indignantly. "I bet even you wouldn't be able to answer some of those!"

"This test was for you and not me," Mirage quickly replied with slightly reddened cheeks, choosing to inspect her nails.

"Can't I just learn that stuff as we go?" I asked, hoping that she might take some mercy on me for once. "I learn better that way anyways," I tired. Mirage actually seemed to think this over as she brought her hand up to her chin to think. After a couple of seconds, she gave me a sidelong glance before heading over to the podium at the front of the room and putting on a headset. She then hit some keys that were out of my view and after a short pause, spoke into the headset.

"Theodore," she began, apparently speaking to the mechanic I had meet yesterday. "Are the simulators available today?" I perked up in my seat a little. Even simulated flying was better than bland book work. "I see. Can you be ready for Mr. Immelmann and I by twelve?" I looked over at a clock that was in the room and saw it was only eight. I began to slouch in my chair as I realized that it wouldn't be that easy to get out of the more boring parts of this. "Thank you very much. We'll see you then." Mirage put the headset down and grabbed her data pad, tapping away at the device until a projection came up at the front of the room.

"Quit sulking," Mirage demanded. "Or I'll tell him that he can save himself the effort of loading up the sims."

"Fine," I mumbled, straightening up and doing my best to pay attention as Mirage went over the principles of atmospheric flight, beginning with lift and Bernoulli's principle. When she saw I was having trouble staying awake after twenty minutes, she had me stand up. When she saw I was becoming adept at sleeping in that position, she decided to switch tactics yet again. She walked over to my test and grabbed the last page that I hadn't even been able to get to in the hour I had. She then ripped it from the booklet.

"Hey!" I shouted at her, the noise being enough to shake my doziness off.

"Quiet! I'm trying to help you!" She said pointing a finger at me angrily. "Besides, it was a blank page anyways," she mumbeled. I remained quiet as she came over and handed me the piece of paper.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" I asked her quizzically as I looked at the torn piece of paper.

"Show me that you understand Bernoulli's principle and we'll go to the simulators right now."

"Huh?" I asked, suddenly wishing I had been paying attention to Mr. Fancylastname's School boss.

"You learn better doing things, right?So, we're going to continue the lesson by doing things. Demonstrate Bernoulli's principle." I glanced over at the projection at the front of the room that had very generic diagrams that were not helping me at all. All the words were over six letters long and half of them didn't seem to make sense.

"Hold the paper by pinching two adjacent corners," Mirage began, clearly annoyed that I didn't know the first thing to do. I did as she told me and looked back at her once I was done.

"See how the paper is just hanging there?" I raised my eyebrow at her. No shit it was just hanging there. "Blow just above where you are holding the paper," Mirage told me, briefly waving her hand above the paper where I should blow.

"Above it?" I asked, her request not making any sense. "What's that going to do? Shouldn't I blow bel-"

"Just do it." Mirage snapped, clearly getting tired of me. I huffed, at her but did what she told me anyways. As I blew above the paper, it suddenly began to flutter and then after a few seconds, stayed parallel to the floor until I ran out of breath. Surprised and confused, I did it again. And again. And again. Each time, the paper rose up and stayed there until I ran out of air. I shot Mirage a questioning stare and saw her quickly hide an amused smile once she saw my face.

"The faster a fluid moves, the lower it's pressure will be. The higher air pressure under the paper causes it to rise. The way our aircraft do this is by having the air travel farther on the top side of the wing than on the bottom side, which is why our wings are shaped the way they are. The further the air has to travel in the same amount of time, the faster it moves. The faster it moves, the greater the pressure difference. The greater the pressure difference, the greater the lift. Do you understand now?"

"I think so," I replied after a moment. It was still hazy, but it was definitely better then the blindness I had before. "But why do I need to know this?" I asked, trying to bring it back full circle.

"So you know why your plane stalls when you try to turn to sharply. If you know why it happens, you'll be able to correct it faster and more efficiently than just trying to 'feel it out'." The room was quiet for a couple of minutes before Mirage glanced at a clock. She sighed heavily before saying, "Take a break. Get some water and come back ready to pay attention. We have a long ways to go before we get to reaction based maneuvers in micro-gravity."

Classes continued like that for a week. Each day I would wake up before the sun came up and get ready in complete silence with a roommate who I didn't feel one hundred percent comfortable turning my back to, come to work in what was pretty much a huge robot, and learn the theory behind flying an aircraft in impromptu labs Mirage seemed to think up on the spot. The best part of my days was the last hour when Mirage and I would get in the simulators and put to practice what we had learned that day. When Friday finally came around, I was more than ready for a break, but didn't expect the one that was offered.

* * *

 **AN: Bet you weren't expecting a little science lesson, huh? Thank you for all the awesome feedback and thoughts on last chapters question!**

 **Sorry about the pause, but that unfortunately is bound to happen sometimes. There are periods of time where, due to my job, I'll be away from a stable internet connection for sometimes months at a time. Fortunately, I'm still able to type during those times so when I do get back, I _should_ have plenty to post. _Should_.**

 **Hope you guys are liking the tweaks I'm making to the story so far. Next chapter will help explain why Hayate is acting more like someone who's taking this stuff seriously.**

 **Anyways, Hope you guys enjoyed and I look forward to giving you the next update when it's ready! See you when I see you!**


	4. Final Exam

**Final Exam**

"YOU WANT ME TO WHAT?"

"It's just one session to see if you like it," the commander said trying to get me to calm down. "It'll be good for you!" he added, not even trying to dress up the over used expression.

"But he's a fricken full on Zentradi!" I shot back. "He could… flick me and break all my ribs!"

"Judo literally means 'gentle way,'" Mirage said, rolling her eyes at my perceived over reaction. I sighed heavily, not knowing how to really come back from that one.

"I'm guessing this is happening regardless," I finally said.

"Huh," Messer mused, finally speaking for the first time this morning. "I see Mirage has managed to chip away at some of your stubbornness." My eyebrow twitched at the man's statement and I could've swore I heard a low growl from Mirage. But, as usual, Messer remained unaffected by our displays of hostility.

"Captain Ernest will be expecting you in thirty minutes," the commander said before I could think of anything retaliatory to say to Messer to prove him wrong. "Mirage, you've earned yourself some free flight time. Everyone else, carry out the plan of the day." With that, everyone began to leave the room. After lingering in the room, I decided to just get this day over with and made my way to where Chuck said the judo classroom was and found the towering Captain waiting for me.

"You actually showed?" he said, sounding surprised.

"I can't very well refuse the Captains request," I muttered, earning a hearty chuckle and pat on the back that made me stagger slightly.

"You'd be surprised," the man said with a toothy grin. "Since we're a privatized organization, some people tend to be more… liberal with following orders."

"Lucky them," I muttered under my breath.

"Don't worry, Mr. Immelmann," the captain said knowingly. "I may seem like a threat to your health, but being a judo master means that I am not only capable of beating you, but capable of beating you without harming you."

"Huh," I laughed dryly. "'Gentle way,'" I muttered, echoing Mirage from earlier.

"Exactly," captain Ernest said happily, sporting one of his frightening smiles. "Now, go ahead and get changed in the room over there. I'll be waiting out here." I went to go change into the white uniform that had been hanging for me in the changing room. After getting dressed in an admittedly slow fashion, I came back into the main room to find the large man waiting for me.

"So, what do I do, exactly? I hope you don't expect me to be able to throw you around." The Zentradi gave another large smile before closing his eyes.

"'Resisting a more powerful opponent will result in your defeat, whilst adjusting to and evading your opponent's attack will cause him to lose his balance, his power will be reduced and you will defeat him. This can apply whatever the relative values of power, thus making it possible for weaker opponents to beat significantly stronger ones,'" the captain replied, opening his eyes after he finished quoting something. "That is the main theory behind judo. It is not about overwhelming your opponent with strength, but out-adapting him in control." I merely raised my eyebrow at the man in suspicion.

"I do not expect you to win under your own power," the captain finally said plainly. "But I would like for you to _try_ and win using my own against me."

"I'd like that too," I muttered.

"Let us begin," the man said, swiftly moving his feet into a ready position.

"Wait, don't I need to hear the rules or something?" I quickly asked nervously as I tried to mirror his footing.

"I want to see how fast you are at improvising," the man said with a predatory grin that made me hope time would literally fly for the next couple of hours. The first couple of matches were over faster than I could say 'judo,' but each time the captain would put me into a hold or pin, he would do so without putting me into any undue discomfort and explain how I could try and prevent or get out of the holds and pins. On our tenth go around, I was finally able to side-step a grab and follow through with a grab of my own that put the large man off balance for a split moment before one of his hands came back around and pinned me to the soft floor again.

"Impressive!" the captain said in loud boom of clear surprise and pride. "You got me there for a moment!" I couldn't help but share the mans temporary joy as we set up for another go around. Within another ten minutes we were both ready for a break.

"I have to admit, Mr. Immelmann," the captain began as I drank from my can of green tea. "I did not expect you to be doing as well as you are right now."

"Well, I'm just as surprised as you are," I admitted as I stared at my beverage. "I didn't think coming into this I'd be able to leave under my own power, let alone land a couple of grabs."

"Heh," the large man laughed. "While I'm surprised with your quick learning as well, it wasn't exactly what I was speaking about."

"What do you mean?" I asked with a light scowl of confusion.

"It's like I was saying earlier," the man said with a sigh. "We're a private company and people tend to take orders around here as suggestions. With your history of moving around from one job to the next, I honestly didn't think you would stick around and take orders form people when you knew how easy it can be to move on to something new and easier." I realized that the man was right in may aspects. When I hadn't liked something about my job, I was quick to not do whatever it was, weather it be something small like not wear some specific piece of gear, to not doing the job altogether. But here…

"I guess I just realized this is something that I want to do. That I can see myself enjoying for… well, a long time at least."

"… All aspects of it?" the Zentradi asked after a pause.

"Huh?"

"You may not realize it yet because you've been so focused on the basics," the captain began. "But at the end of the day, you're flying a Variable _Fighter_. You will be expected to protect Walkure, with force when necessary." The judo classroom was silent for a while as captain Ernest's words soaked in.

"I think we've done enough for today," the man finally said after a long pause. "You're free to enjoy your weekend. Be ready to come back on Monday. Do you want to continue these sessions?" the man asked. I knew he was trying to keep it from coming out, but I could detect a small amount of hope in his question.

"Sure," I replied after a long moment to let him sweat it out as a small amount of payback for his last take down that had been a little less 'gentle' than the others.

"Excellent!" the man said, getting up and offering me a hand. Once we were both standing we made a tentative plan to meet back up next week and I was left to go enjoy my weekend.

As soon as I got back, I was ambushed by Chuck's younger siblings. They had been tracking down the mercat that had bested us all at the beginning of the week and had finally spotted it sunbathing at the end of pier. They were about to ambush it when they had spotted me coming back from Elysion. We quickly picked up some swimming gear for myself in case this turned into a water combat zone and proceeded to try and sneak up on the vile vermin. As we were closing in, Chuck spotted us and our intended prey and immediately joined in, coming in from a different angle. Just as we got within two meters however, my allergies acted up and I sneezed, blowing our element of surprise and making the creature start to get away. All four of us began our pursuit and sure enough, the aquatic animal made it's way into the water.

"Come on, Hack! Zack!" I called out to the two young boys following me before sneezing mid stride. "Dammit!" I shouted, cursing my allergies yet again as I ran to the end of the dock and pulled down my respirator. I dove into the water after the brown mercat and quickly spotted it making its way through the schools of fish and jellies in the water. However, just when I thought I'd finally catch the rascal, it turned around suddenly and came at me, throwing me off and slowing me down. It then caused a mid-water collision between Hack and Zack before it turned it's attention back to me and slapped the scuba gear right off my face with a painful tail wack. Keeping my eyes open, I was just able to make out the brown fuzzy spot of the mercat being chased by the significantly larger blob that I assumed to be Chuck. Just when it seemed the two blobs were about to merge, the mercat pulled up sharply and Chuck went speeding past, not expecting the animal to perform a sudden stop. I tisked in annoyance, but had to surface for air. I didn't have gills like my three companions.

The rest of the weekend proved to be largely uneventful, but I liked it that way. I was able to see a lot of Barrette city and tried out a couple of the local foods, even if they did seem… strange. When I came back in on Monday, I was fully rested and recharged. And this week, I was going to need it.

"Today we will be flying in the VF-1EX," Mirage announced during the morning briefing on Monday. The commander raised his eyebrows in mild surprise and for once the stony expression on Messer's face changed to a scowl of mild disapproval that probably indicated a much larger level of disgust than what he showed.

"Way to go Hayate!" Chuck said, the only one to react positively to the news. "Moving up in the world!"

"Is the boy really ready to be in a real plane again?" Messer asked coldly, making Chuck go silent. "You do remember what happened to the last one he tried to pilot?"

"He won't be under fire today," Mirage said quickly before I could retaliate, knowing I would only escalate the situation with my large mouth. "Besides, he's been in plenty of simulations now. I'll take responsibility for any damage he may incur." It felt weird to have support from Mirage, even if it wasn't altruistic in nature.

"I look forward to seeing the results of last week," the commander simply said as he gestured for the rest of the people in the room to clear out and carry on with their day.

"Thank-" I tried to say once the room was cleared out, but Mirage quickly interrupted.

"You will _not_ embarrass me today, vomit boy." She then swiftly left to go get changed into her flight suit. I shook myself out of my temporary stupor and clenched my fists. Yep, she still hated me. I stalked over to the male changing rooms and donned my flight suit. It was a deep shade of blue that I knew had been influenced by the color of my hair. The suit was form fitting and had a few composite parts to it for reinforcement in key areas. I grabbed my helmet from a shelf and headed out to where Mirage was waiting with our training variable fighters.

With some help from flight control, I got permission to take off and Mirage and I began our training in earnest.

"Listen up, rookie!" Mirage shouted once we had flow far enough from Elysion to begin maneuvering. "Let's start form the basics and see how good your memory is. Rightward turn!" Mirage commanded as she began the movements herself. I moved the throttle and stick as I had in the simulator and began the turn myself, but something about the movement felt… off. Delayed maybe? I tried pulling the stick a little harder, thinking it was just some kind of problem with the stick. The result, however, was my plane pulling back far too much and entering a stall.

"Idiot!" Mirage shouted out as my plane tumbled. "Straighten up!" I grunted in frustration and embarrassment as I wrestled the plane to try and get control back. "That's too much!" Mirage continued shouting, her plane flashing in the review mirrors on my canopy. Suddenly, the flight stick seemed to gain a mind of it's own and began to move on it's own bringing my plane back into stable flight.

"Now do you get why classes are important?" Mirage asked in anger. But I felt like the anger was unjustified. I had been paying attention! There was something going on with my plane! Before I could tell her what was going on, she spoke again. "Just get behind me for now!"

"I know!" I replied, reflecting my anger and frustration in my response. I pulled up on the flight stick to get behind Mirage who was above me, but encountered the strange dulled response again. So I pulled harder to try and compensate, but again, the plane stalled out at the sharp movement.

"Dammit!" I shouted in frustration as the plane began to tumble again.

"What the hell are you doing?" Mirage asked, her voice sounding more threatening than a swarm of angry hornets. "You're losing speed!" The flight stick suddenly sprung back out of my hand and auto-maneuvered the plane into stable flight again.

"The AI keeps getting in the way of how I want to fly!" I shouted in frustration as Mirage came along side me.

"If we let you fly the way you wanted, you wouldn't be in the air for long," Mirage replied testily.

"What?!" I replied angrily, realizing that Mirage had put the AI in place.

"Okay, then," Mirage said in the same voice she had used nearly a week ago when she took me for a 'ride' in her plane. Suddenly, a green light flashed off on my flight stick and my plane began to shudder as I was buffeted from the turbulence in the air that had been mitigated by the AI up until that point. I struggled for a few moments as I tried to get used to countering the new interference as Mirage began to speak down to me.

"To increase mobility, fighters sacrifice stability," she began in her haughty teaching voice she would sometimes use with me when I was acting especially stupid in one of her lessons. "Even the best pilots need some form of assistance to help them counter the turbulence in atmosphere. Learn your place."

As I continued to overcompensate for the new turbulence my planes flight progressively lost more control and I soon found myself tumbling out of the sky again. I could hear my breathing in the small space of the helmet and could see my panicked face in the reflection of the glass just inches in front of my eyes. I couldn't stand the suffocating feeling I had while I was in something as large and open as the sky and quickly pulled the annoying headgear from my face. I took a deep breath of the cool air in my canopy and focused on getting control of the plane again.

I grunted as my stomach feel out of me when I pulled sharply on my flight stick and maxed out my throttle simultaneously to cancel out my death spiral. Once I got sufficient lift again for normal control, I eased back the throttle and moved the pane to circle back around to Mirage. Now that the controls were giving me immediate response and feedback, it was easy to put myself in a trail position behind Mirage.

"Wha?" Mirage asked, startled as I came along her plane, my own only shifting around in the air mildly as I actively fought against the rough air generated from our close proximity. I couldn't help but smirk as I saw her turn her head to look back at her terminal to double check if the AI was off. "Humph," she grunted indignantly. "We'll see how long you can keep that up, won't we?" She asked as she suddenly barrel rolled over my plane and shot off towards the sun. I shook around for a moment from the rough air the maneuver had created, but swiftly shot after her myself, not wanting to give her a reason to reactivate the invasive AI.

Mirage continued to grunt in frustration and disbelief as I mirrored her basic flight maneuvers, all without the assistance of the AI. Then she began to pull stunts that we hadn't even practiced in the simulators. I tried my best to mirror her technique, but I ended up stalling out from the moves, forcing me to recover as she taunted me for being 'inadequate.' Eventually, we had to come in and land, my use of fuel exceeding Mirages by a fair margin from my recovery maneuvers.

Once we had landed, Mirage swiftly dismissed me for the day, earlier than she had ever released me before and stormed off before I could ask a question. The next day I showed up unsure of what to expect. When I came into the briefing room for the day, Messer gave me an appraising look that felt more penetrating than it should've, and the commander had an even larger goofy grin than normal. Chuck of course was the first one to speak.

"What kind of crazy human are you!?" the Ragnan asked in awe.

"Huh?" I asked, unsure of where his where his question and tone were coming from.

"That piloting yesterday was exemplary," the commander said simply. "Exactly what I'd expect from someone who trusts the wind as much as you do," he finished with a smirk. Meanwhile, Mirage's face seemed to be spasing out with as much twitching it was doing as she glared at me. Once everyone had been dismissed to carry out their day, Mirage continued to stare at me for a good minute before she took a deep breath with her eyes closed and broke into the lesson.

"We're moving on to combat basics," Mirage said finally. Without waiting for my response, she began to pull up projections and large text files about combat strategy and theory.

I sighed heavily as Mirage began to go over different tactics I would have to use in order to get the upper hand in a dogfight, what she called battles where two or more pilots tried to take each other out.

"Do you want to move right into practical application then?" Mirage said testily in response to my deep sighing. "I'm doing this for your benefit after all, the simulators have a nasty way to telling you your plane is taking damage."

"You know I can't learn this way," I replied, not really believing her about the simulators. I had been in them plenty of times now to know that they weren't able to do anything dangerous to the occupants. If anything, they were kind of a let down now that I knew what real flying really felt like. They didn't simulate the intense forces you would normally feel in a turn or the changing wind patterns that I now knew existed without AI support.

"Fine," Mirage replied in an uncaring tone. At least, that's what it seemed like on the surface. Something about the way her eyes flashed familiarly… told me there was a hidden danger somewhere. We jumped into the simulators and I quickly found out what Mirage had meant by 'nasty'.

Each time the enemy scored a hit on my plane, I would be shocked by something in the cockpit, the object doing the shocking shifting each time so I couldn't predict where it would come from or avoid it. After a couple of minutes of me trying and failing at just trying to avoid the incoming fire, Mirage had enough.

"Hayate, you need to shoot back! They're just going to keep on coming if you don't take them out!"

"I can't focus on chasing them with all these lasers coming at me!" I shouted back, getting frustrated. I'd start chasing one of the enemies but just I got into a position I figured I could shoot from, a shock would come and throw me off track as the other enemies shot at me. "Gah!" I shouted out, finally getting fed up with all the shocks I had been receiving and just letting go of the controls and pressing the escape button on the simulator, stopping the whole thing. I got out of the small enclosure as quickly as I could and stormed out of the simulator room, Mirage hot on my heels.

"What do you think you're doing, cadet?!" Mirage asked, her voice reminding me of a military instructor and irritating me even more.

"I didn't sign up for the military!" I shouted back at her as I continued to storm through the halls. "Why do I have to be treated like I have? Or do things that any normal person wouldn't have to deal with?! All I had wanted to do was fly! Normal pilots don't have to shoot stuff out of the sky!"

"You didn't sign up to be a normal pilot!" Mirage shouted back, still right behind me. Our shouting was bringing everyone who was out in the hallway with us to a stand still. "You signed up to protect the Walkure! And part of that job IS shooting stuff out of the sky! We fly on battlefields!"

"FINE!" I shouted out as I spun around and confronted my angry instructor. "If I've got to shoot stuff down to do my job, then so be it!" I shouted out. "But stop treating me like some kind of military dog!" I yelled petulantly. "You're hardly my senior in any regard, I've seen you mess up so don't even deny it." Mirage was fuming mad, but knew I had spoken at least some truth and remained silent besides her heavy breathing. "I'm done for the day." I finally said after we had a silent staring match. I turned around and stormed out of Elysion, no one stopping me on my way out. I spent my walk home kicking a pebble down the road and almost didn't notice Chuck's siblings when I finally reached Ragnyannyan.

"Hayate!" Hack yelled, finally breaking me from my concentrated death stare at the pavement. "Are you okay?" the kid asked, somewhat startled at the angry face he had seen.

"Yeah, just angry about work," I admitted, doing my best to try and relax a little now that I was away from that demon woman.

"Big bro always goes swimming after a tough day," Zack said as he joined in on the conversation.

"A swim, huh?" I asked, looking out at the cerulean water. "That actually sound pretty nice," I admitted, a small smile tugging at the corners of my mouth. The three of us quickly got changed and began to swim right on the beach next to Ragnyannyan. It wasn't long before Chuck came home and joined in, showing off with his brothers just what being a Ragnan allowed them to do in the water. Once the sun began to set, I pulled myself up onto the beach, too exhausted to continue to swim. Chuck gave himself a momentary reprieve to join me.

"So…" he began awkwardly.

"I don't want to talk about it," I quickly said, not wanting to sour my mood again.

"I was just going to ask about what you planned on doing about our mercat problem," Chuck quickly supplied.

"… Right," I replied skeptically. After a moment, I decided to just go with it. It was better than thinking about work anyways. "That damn mercat," I replied, rubbing my cheek where it had slapped me week ago.

"We were pretty close," Chuck said, referencing yesterdays pursuit. I don't know if it was because I was just too tired to have noticed or if her stalking was just stealthy, but one way or another, the voice of my worst nightmare suddenly came from behind me without warning.

"What was pretty close?" Mirage asked, her voice full of anything but curiosity. Chuck and I both turned around to see the woman looking at us with narrowed eyes. Well, she was more or less looking at me really.

"Uh…" Chuck began, his nervousness showing in the way the edges of his gills shivered. "I hear the jellyfish god calling for me!" he suddenly shouted lamely. "I'll leave the rest to you! Peace!" he shouted as he got up and dove into the water, leaving me alone with the volatile woman.

"That's evil," I muttered under my breath as I watched the man hastily swim away under the red waves the sunset was making. Mirage cleared her through to unnecessarily remind me she was still there.

"What's the matter?" I asked her, not turning or standing to face her. "I'm still going to attend practice."

"That's not enough," Mirage replied instantly. I sighed heavily, upset I couldn't seem to escape this woman's wrath.

"I was told the Delta Platoon's job is to _protect_ Walkure, not _fight_. There is a difference, you know."

"I'm not ignorant to that difference," Mirage claimed. "But fighting still happens. You were at Al-Shahal. We fly on the battlefield. If you're not ready for that, leave." I could tell Mirage was trying to be as neutral about this as possible, so I decided to return the favor.

"Do you enjoy flying like that?" I asked as I stood up and finally faced her. The setting sun and the ocean's soft breeze were doing amazing things for Mirage's hair, and I nearly didn't catch her reply.

"Enjoy it?" she asked as if my question was silly. "I'm a warrior. I fly to protect. That's all." I sighed sadly. I had hopped she was like me in the sense she got some kind of enjoyment out of flying, but it seemed she was just here to do a job. Maybe that's why we just couldn't get along. We weren't on the same channel.

"I see," I finally replied, failing to keep the disappointment from my voice. "Got it." I began to walk away to head inside for the night. It didn't take long for me to fall asleep once my head hit the pillow that evening.

The next day, I learned that Mirage had decided she had taught me as much as she could and that my final exam, a mock dogfight with her, would be taking place on Thursday, a day away. Since our lessons were now complete, I had no reason to stick around at Elysion, but I still went and used the simulators for a couple of hours, as unrealistic as they were, they still helped hone my general maneuvering skills. After I was done, I went home and spent the rest of the day with Hack and Zack as we tried to chase down the mercat yet again. Our misadventures had us travel all across town as we chased the brown devil around Barrette city. It was sunset when we decided to call off our chase and head back for the day.

"It's so quick at running away," Hack said as we were walking up a hill.

"Yeah," I admitted, rubbing away the last of the snot that had formed up from my allergies. "But I've seen all its moves! Next time, it's done for!" I shouted, trying to sound cool for the two younger males.

"Heck yeah!" Zack yelled enthusiastically.

"OH!" Hack suddenly yelled out, spotting a mercat that looked like our target. "Over there!" he shouted as he began running after the animal. Zack quickly followed his brother, but I could tell from my vantage point that the target mercat was not our perpetrator by it's missing scar. I decided to skip this goose chase and save my nose the trouble.

"Hayate!" Freyja's voice suddenly shouted from up the hill. I looked up to see her waving at me excitedly.

"Hey!" I replied, walking up to meet her.

"It feels like it's been forever since we've seen each other," Freyja said as we walked over to a low wall to watch as Hack and Zack began to lift up and put down the friendly mercats who clearly weren't our evil aquatic feline. Each one they touched seemed to suddenly want all the two boys attention and before long, they were surrounded by the creatures.

"How are your lessons?" I asked as I took a seat on the wall.

"So much fun!" the girl quickly replied, shaking her head more empathetically than was needed. I would've said she replied too quickly, but, this was Freyja. She had a knack for going overboard. "Running so high I can barely stand at the end of the day!" Her face seemed so happy, it made me realize just how few moments I had like that since coming here.

"How I envy you," I admitted, looking back over the water.

"I heard your final exam is coming up," Freyja began, looking up at me with mild concern. "Are you sure you should be here?"

"I can't seem to get the hang of fighting," I replied, pulling out my crystal to fiddle with, a habit that I performed whenever I felt like I wasn't everything I should be. "Back then, when I flew for the first time… when I jumped into the wind… It was a good feeling." I hadn't felt that way in a while now… "Well, I can't just go down here, can I now?" I said, done feeling sorry for my self and jumping up to my feet. "I'm gonna wipe the smirk of my strict instructor's face!" I shouted out to the bay below me. My sudden burst of enthusiasm got Freyja to giggle in her creepy way. "You have a really creepy laugh, you know?" I asked the girl, somewhat seriously. It was just too much fun to mess with her. With anyone really…

"Wh-What about my laugh?!" Freyja suddenly asked, her eyes immediately locking with mine.

"What's so funny anyways?" I replied, deciding to dodge the question for now. I wasn't sure how she'd react to me telling her it sounded like some evil murderers laugh.

"I just though about how hard you're gonna fail!" the girl shot back, seeing and using the golden opportunity to use my own words against me.

"I'm not gonna fail!" I countered a small smirk coming to my face as I mirrored her action and used her own words against her. I made my way back towards my Ragnyannyan. It was going to be a tough day no matter what tomorrow and I needed some sleep.

The next day, the morning brief was relatively short.

"Today will be cadet Hayate and Second Lieutenant Jenius' mock dogfight," the commander began. "Everyone else has the day off and are free to either watch or enjoy liberty. You two," the commander said as he pointed at Mirage and I. "You will be briefed in flight, so suit up and take off. That is all." Mirage and I didn't say a word to each other as we left to go change. In fact, no one said a word to me until I was in the blue VF-1EX.

"You've got five minutes," the commander announced over the radio. "If you can land a hit on Mirage, then you win, Hayate. To give him a chance, Hayate can take any number of hits." That began to get my heart beating. "Messer will be the judge. Start off by turning left and right respectively. The exam begins as soon as you pass each other!"

"Roger!" Mirage and I replied simultaneously. Maintaining our coincidental synchronicity, we broke away from each other to get into our starting positions. Someone else in the flight control room began to count down for us as we circled back around and began to speed towards each other. As Mirage's red plane grew larger and larger, I began to breath more erratically. Despite my reluctance to learn combat, I really enjoyed this job. And if I failed today. I wouldn't be doing it any more.

"3000 meters," the person on the bridge announced. Becoming annoyed with my helmet again, I pulled it off my face and stowed it in a compartment below my seat. I had noticed during my pull away that the AI was still engaged on my plane and quickly found the 'off' switch on my control panel. Beside it, I saw a red override switch and flipped that as well. I didn't expect Mirage to cheat, but… you can never be too safe.

"1000 meters," the flight control continued. I looked back up and saw that Mirage was still headed straight for me. So she wanted to play chicken? I stayed my course and we buzzed each other as the woman who had been counting down shouted out 'start'. My plane was buffeted heavily from our near collision, but I still was able to maintain control, beginning my search for Mirage as soon as I was sure I wasn't about to fall out of the sky.

"What?" I cried out in surprise, finding Mirage already on my tail. I suddenly heard and felt heavy vibrations, as Mirage unleashed a volley of simulation rounds on my plane, giving it a purple paint job. It hadn't even been ten seconds yet and I had already been hit!

"Get good," Mirage taunted as I began to try and pull away from her. However, Mirage had no intent of taking it easy today.

"If we passed someone who's this unskilled," she began, speaking to me over our communication channel as she gave me a new paint job, "they'd just get killed in their first battle. I will not be the one who let an unskilled pilot die!" she shouted as she continued to pelt my plane with paint rounds.

I began to pull harder on my stick, feeling my plane shudder as I neared stall speeds. Luckily, it was enough of a change to get Mirage to lose her shooting position and give me a short reprieve. I needed to turn the tables, but how? Suddenly it dawned on me. Mirage was still flying with the AI engaged. I just needed to force her plane to engage it's own auto maneuvers and then she'd be vulnerable!

Hopefully.

As Mirage's scarlet plane got behind me again, I applied full thrust and pulled up sharply on my flight stick, causing the plane to vibrate like it had never done before.

"What?" Mirage suddenly asked as she flew in a much wider loop, her plane not allowing her to mirror my maneuver in order to stay within 'safe' limits of operation. "Are you nuts?"

"Shut up, you demon woman!" I taunted back as I straightened out at the apex of my loop, waiting for Mirage to get back on my tail again.

"God…!" she uttered in anger as she rocketed after me. I smirked as I suddenly cut the throttle to zero and forced my plane into a stall, Mirage shooting past me with her excess momentum. "What the…! He's entered a stall!" Mirage shouted, sounding concerned. "Cadet Hayate Immelmann, eject immediately!" In reality, I had just enough control with my falling speed to aim my plane for a rock formation.

"Shut up!" I shouted at the woman as she stayed outside an engagement range. Why wasn't she coming after me? I need her to chase if this plan was going to work! "I won't be able to fly if I lose now!" I muttered to myself as I continued to adjust the barely responsive controls towards the rock arches near the water.

"Mirage, eject him." I heard the commander say though the communication channel. Wait, did they really think I was in trouble?

"Roger," Mirage replied. There was a sudden flash or red where I had flipped the override switch earlier. "I can't!" I heard her say as soon as she realized I had turned off her safeties. "He cut off remote control along with the AI!"

"Is he out of his mind?" the commander asked as I continued to fall.

"Firefighters! Ambulance!" I heard the captain call out. Maybe I was taking this a little too far… "We have an emergency!" No… maybe they were. I mean, if I needed to, I could eject myself. It wasn't like I didn't know how. And there was still plenty of ways to go before I hit the water. They were all just over reacting. None of them trusted my skill yet. Well, to be honest, I didn't even trust in my own skill yet…

 _Prove it to them._

I gasped at the familiar whisper.

 _Prove it to yourself._

I scowled with renewed dedication and adjusted my grip on the flight stick. I was only a couple thousand feet above and away from the stone arches now and would need to apply full thrust to recover from my stall. I glanced at my timer and nearly choked. I had less than a minute left!

"Hayate!" Mirage of all people suddenly yelled as I closed in towards the arches. Shaking off the strange tone I hadn't heard in her voice before, I applied full throttle to my engines and felt the plane shudder like it hadn't ever before. I had full control plane again, but unless I could position my thrust directly downward to cancel out my fall… I instinctively activated gerwalk mode and skimmed the water as I flew out of the stone arches and back up into the sky. I quickly converted back to flight mode and began to circle back around towards Mirage.

"The exam isn't over yet, instructor!" I shouted out, noticing that Mirage's plane seemed to be just flying a straight course.

"What?!" Mirage asked, genuinely surprised as I shot towards her.

"Here I go!" I yelled excitedly, not being able to help myself as I had finally turned the tables on her. I let my first volley go as she suddenly jumped into action, moving just before my simulation rounds could strike her aircraft. Now a little more prepared, Mirage used her lower speed to pull a tight loop and get behind me once again. But now, I felt energized and ready, the strange whisper I had heard earlier proving to me that I was still in tune with the wind.

"Give up already, Cadet Hayate!" Mirage said as she began to line up for a shot.

"Stop calling me that!" I shouted as I deployed my air break and maxed out my throttle again, all while pulling straight back on my flight stick, violently pulling me out of the path of Mirage as she flew though my jet wash. I smirked as I realized I had just done what the mercat had done to chuck a couple of days ago.

Even with her AI assisting her, Mirage was thrown around as she entered the rough air I had crated from my maneuver. It gave me all the time I needed to quickly switch into gerwalk mode, fly up into the sun a bit to make her lose track of me, and come back down in full battroid mode, nailing her cockpit with simulation rounds.

"That's it!" I shouted out in joy as I danced around the sky in adrenaline assisted joy. I saw the few seconds left on the timer finally drop down to zero and did another flip of victory before changing back into flight mode. "This feels… nice," I finally admitted to myself, finally starting to come down from my high. Suddenly, my plane shook as a simulation round hit me. "Huh?" I said as I looked back over at Mirage's plane which seemed like it still hadn't changed its course from when I had shot it. If she hadn't shot me then-

"How long are you going to keep prancing around?" Messer asked as his plane flashed past mine.

"What was that for? It's not fair!" I shouted out, not understanding why they guy had to take a shit on my parade.

"Such is the battlefield. Gallant one-on-one duels are a fallacy," the man lectured as he closed in on my and easily kept within my vulnerable zone.

"You're flying the newest fighter!" I retorted as I tried to get out side his target zone.

"If you want to survive, learn how to fight." More paint rounds pelted my plane, dark red paint beginning to blend with the purple that already covered a large majority of my plane. I growled in anger as the man continued to pick on his easy prey.

 _Push back._

The whisper didn't need to urge me twice. I suddenly switched into battroid mode and aimed my gun at Messer who had suddenly stopped firing.

"Get off your high horse!" I shouted as I pulled the trigger. His plane was lighting fast to react, but I still saw one bullet leave a bright blue splotch on the underside of his plane.

"Enough," the commander said firmly over the radio. "Everyone return to base. The simulation is over." I tisked in frustration, but switched back into flight mode and made my way back towards Elysion. Once we had landed, I was quick to get out of my plane and was instantly surrounded by surprised and excited mechanics. Though, there was one, Theodore, who looked like he was about to blow a gasket as he read the stress readings on the air frame of my plane. I saw Messer give me a deep scowl before storming off the flight deck, but Mirage still had yet to come out of her plane. In fact, I hadn't heard her speak once since I had shot her. After prying myself away from the excited ground crew I walked up to her plane and deployed her ladder. Once I was up next to her canopy, I began knocking on the glass.

"Get lost!" her muffled voice said as she angrily turned towards me. For a moment, I felt like responding in kind, but quickly lost the feeling. Despite how much I didn't want to admit it, both Messer and Mirage were right. I needed to get better in combat if I wanted to be a useful member of Delta platoon. My plane was every color but the one it had started off as and in a real battle, that would've meant I died.

"I'm sorry," I finally said. "You were right." I hung my head for a moment, but decided Mirage deserved to see my shame. "Just being able to fly isn't enough." The woman looked shocked to the point of being unresponsive. "But I still don't like the shooting business," I said, in an effort to get some kind of reaction out of her. "So I'll do things my way!" I said with a smile that I hoped she would understand as me trying to joke with her. "I'm looking forward to your classes, instructor Mirage!" I finished, seeing that she probably was going to need a while to process her defeat. "See you!" I shouted as I jumped down from the ladder.

I saw that Freyja had come and joined the rest of the ground crew to celebrate my victory.

"What was that about?" Perry asked as I came and joined them again. "You know how Mirage is about her planes! And turning off the AI?! You scarred the crap outta us!"

"You passed your exam!" Freyja said, clearly happy for me. I smirked at her and couldn't help but give her a reply I'd expect to come from her.

"Easy peasy!"

"Aren't you the lucky one?" she shot right back, trying to mimic my voice and everything. Our goofy exchange earned a couple of hearty laughs from the ground crew around us. I smiled as everyone around laughed and looked up at the glowing sky, it's burnt hues subtly shifting as evening approached.

I grabbed the crystal around my neck and wondered why now, after all these years, it was suddenly… speaking to me.

* * *

 **AN: Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I look forward to meeting you all again for the next one!**


	5. Calm Before the Knights

**Calm Before the Knights**

The next day was judo with captain Ernest. I had thought that after last weeks relatively successful session, today would seem easier.

"Hugch!"

"Nice try, Hayate!" Ernest shouted out excitedly, clearly enjoying himself more than I was at the moment. "But you'll need to work on not telegraphing your moves so much if you want to get a hold on me!" the man continued to shout as he held me to the floor in less than comfortable hold.

"Right," I muttered into the mat, finally getting some slack to work with as the man released my appendages and stood up to get ready for another round. I grudgingly brought myself back to the ready position and prepared myself yet again. I was having the most luck when I played a reactionary roll to Ernest's movements. There was no way my own strength or momentum would work against him, so I had to rely on my ability to redirect his own moment. However, that ability was still quite dismal. Without any formal start, the next match began and I focused intently on every movement the giant Zentradi made, trying to tell when he was about to charge at me. His eyes never left my own as we slowly began to circle each other like tigers getting ready to face off. Then, I noticed an off step and a split second later, the man was charging me like a bull.

Every time before I had tried to escape the mans bear-like reach, and each time I had failed miserably. So this time, I jumped straight towards the incoming Zentradi, crouching even lower to get under the mans center of gravity. Once I judged him to be above me, I reached up and grabbed, finding a grip on the mans leg robes and using my new hold to continue his momentum past me and hopefully out of bounds. Just when I thought he would pass right over me and continue on out of the ring, a rough grope to the collar of my robes took me along with the flying man, causing both of us to tumble out of bounds. Once Ernest had recovered from his surprise, he nearly whooped in excitement.

"I think you're starting to get the hang of this!" the man shouted excitedly, giving me a whack on the back that he probably figured to be congratulatory, but in fact made me even more breathless than I already was.

"… Thanks…" I managed to heave out between coughs for air.

"I think you've earned a break for today. You've got a big night after all," the man said with a smile that on anyone else, might have been seen as friendly, but from the giant Zentradi, was more frightening.

"Right, that…" I murmured, thinking back to this morning's briefing when I had learned there'd be a kind of 'welcome to the club' party for Freyja and I.

"What's with that reaction?" the man asked, a confused scowl crossing his face. "You seem like one of those guys who would be into a party like that."

"It's not that I'm not down for a party," I quickly clarified, looking back up the large man as we both began to get back up and head towards our canned teas. "It's just… I don't know. I guess it still sort of feels like I didn't earn my victory the 'honorable way'."

Yesterday, after the test, I had discovered just how concerned everyone had been when I had stalled out my aircraft. There had been a lot of people who thought I'd be coming back to Elysion in a body bag. I felt real guilty about having freaked them out like that. Even Mirage was strangely skittish of me. Messer went as far as to officially ask for the test results to be voided under conditions of instructor duress. However, before he could go further than to voice his intentions, Mirage spoke up in my defense. She had said that all tactics are valid when you're fighting for you life, and that if I was able to understand that, I was fit to be part of Delta Platoon. As soon as she said her piece, she retreated off somewhere I couldn't find her.

"Don't dwell on it," Ernest said, trying to pull me away from my thoughts. "You've earned your spot, don't let anyone say otherwise. Now, go get ready to enjoy yourself tonight. That's and order!" the man said in a fake serious voice. I gave a sly grin and a lazy salute before dodging out and into the changing room.

When I arrived at Ragnyannyan, I could already see Chuck's sister, Marianne, getting ready for the night in more ways than one. In addition to all the décor she had set up around the restaurant, she had gotten dressed in an outfit that showed more skin than some complete sets of normal underwear. Of course, as soon as Chuck got home he convinced her to wear something a bit more 'conservative', but was still lewd enough that many men would be shifting around uncomfortably tonight. It didn't take long for more people to arrive and by the time the sun went down, the festivities were ready to officially begin.

"Looking back at when I was asked to take part in the genesis of Walkure-" captain Ernest began before he got interrupted by Nina and Makina.

"Thank you!" the two said simultaneously with wide smiles as if the man had finished his speech already. I wouldn't say anything to the man directly, but he did have a habit of being long winded when given the chance. It seemed the two young women wouldn't let him have it tonight.

"And a hip, hip hurrah for Fre-Fre and Haya-Haya's big debuts!" Makina said excitedly. I wasn't all too crazy about the nick-name, but the slight eye-roll I saw from Mirage told me that this was just a Makina thing. Hopefully the name wouldn't gain any following besides the girl who had just used it.

"Cheers!" the two girls on stage shouted, eliciting a chant from the crowd in the room.

"Welcome to Chaos!" the gathered company yelled out, their voices severely lacking any cohesiveness but still unified enough to understand. Freyja took this as her cue to begin a speech which had never been requested of her.

"I, Freyja Wion," began the girl in severely embarrassed and trembling voice, "will devote my life to Walkure!" she finished passionately. Her mini pledge to the singing group she was now part of earned her some chuckles from those close enough to hear her over the din of the side conversations taking place though the restaurant.

"She always overdoes it," I murmured to myself before taking a sip of my beverage. Suddenly, a large arm came and wrapped itself across my back, causing me to choke a little and angrily look back at my surprise assailant. It was none other than a smirking Chuck Mustang.

"And now, a few words from our rookie!" he shouted proudly.

"Like, right now?" I aksed back, slightly annoyed and slightly embarrassed. Public speaking had never been one of my fortes.

"Don't be shy," Chuck teased a little, clearly not having a problem looking a fool in front of a crowd of people. "Just say hi!"

"… Hi," I said to the small crowd of people around us, finding most of them sporting amused smirks at Chuck and I's banter. A while later, Chuck had ducked into the back to work on some dishes we would be eating later. I stood around the edge of the party as I usually did at gatherings like this, watching as people enjoyed themselves. Beth was having a drinking competition with some men from maintenance and wining by a significant margin. I stopped my surveillance of the event once it felt like I was getting drunk just from watching. Captain Ernest had started an arm wrestling match that began innocently enough, but ended with him easily beating two of the most burly men even when they were working together. Just as my stomach began to rumble with hunger, Chuck came out from the back holding some covered platters along with his brother Zack.

"Next course!" the man shouted proudly.

"A Ragnyannyan specialty!" Zack continued. "Fried fermented spiders!" I was momentarily held up by the name. The only thing that had sounded appetizing about it was 'fried'. Nearly everything else about the title didn't seem to belong to food.

"What's that face for?" Mirage asked from beside me, seemingly showing up from out of nowhere.

"Er, well," I began, "I'm not to sure my stomach is ready to eat anything with the word 'fermented' in it."

"You're probably right," Mirage said after a moment. "It can hardly handle some barrel rolls, after all." For a moment, I was shocked silent. I hadn't ever heard Mirage crack one joke before, and the dead serious way she had just spoken, I wasn't sure if she had just tried to be funny or was trying to insult me again.

"What?" Mirage asked, her face dropping into a slightly worried face while her cheeks began to flush slightly. "Did I do it wrong? Was that not funny?" Finally realizing she had indeed tried to crack a joke with her incredibly dry wit, I began to snicker only causing her embarrassed blush to intensify slightly.

"Sorry," I began, holding up a hand to Mirage who was beginning to shift from embarrassed to angry as I tried to subdue my laughing. "It's just I've never heard you try to be funny before so I wasn't sure if you were being serious or not."

"Do I seem that boring…" I heard her mutter quietly before she recomposed herself. "Well, if it must be stated, then yes, I was attempting a bit of humor. However, if it is too sophisticated for you to understand then I suppose I can try and-" I interrupted her in the middle of her rant with another held up hand.

"No, no," I quickly began trying to get her to stop. "It's just like I said, I've never heard you try to be funny before. I liked it." Mirage quirked an eyebrow at my vague statement. "The joke," I clarified. "Even if it was at my expense."

"I see." Mirage said, a small tinge of pick coming back to her cheeks before she cleared her throat again and nodded towards the platters of the strange fried fermented spiders. "They are actually quite good," the female pilot began, changing the subject. "Would you like to try one?"

"You're not pulling my leg, are you?" I asked, skeptical of if Mirage had even had one herself before.

"Why would I do that?" she asked seriously. "You have enough trouble with balance as it is." This time I managed to laugh without having to have her explain to me she was trying to make another joke.

The spiders were actually a decent snack. I certainly wouldn't be idly munching on them any time soon though, they were a more of a 'that's interesting' kind of food. Later, after Mirage and I had eaten some other side dishes around the restaurant, Chuck and Zack brought out the main courses and we returned to our seats with Freyja, Makina, Reina, and Elizabeth, Chuck's youngest sister. I had begun eating when suddenly an oddly colored mercat jumped up onto the table.

"Wha- how'd that get in here?!" I shouted pointing at the pink and black colored mercat.

"Querule?" Mirage asked confused at my reaction. "He's mine, I brought him here."

"Great," I murmured as I sat back down, giving the creature loathsome glares just waiting for my allergies to kick in.

But they didn't.

"That's strange," I mused aloud after a few minutes.

"What, did you expect him to attack you or something?" Mirage asked hostility, her anger stemming from my apparent disdain for her pet.

"No, I'm just allergic to them usually…" I replied, as I stared at the creature. I realized the black and pink stripes it sported were actually from some kind of hand-crafted clothes the mercat was wearing. Did Mirage make those? She didn't seem the craftsty sort…

"You too?" Mirage asked, the edge in her voice suddenly gone.

"Querule's hypo-alergenic," Freyja said helpfully, "Oh yeah! Hayate you're allergic to mercat's too, aren't you!" the young girl said excitedly. "See Mirage! I knew there was something similar between you two!"

"Whatever," Mirage replied with a huff as she returned to eating. The table grew quiet again until Makina began talking.

"So, Fre-Fre, are you ready for tomorrow's Waccine show?"

"A Waccine show?" Freyja repeated, she eating paused for the moment.

"The government of Randor requested it," Makina continued. "They say the risk of a Var breakout has been on the rise."

"Dose it have to be live?" I asked. "Why not use pre-recorded songs?" After all, that was what they usually played over the speakers back when I had been working on Al-Shahal.

"When we sing, we generate bilogical fold waves which calm down the Var," Makina explained, actually sounding intelligent for a moment. "If it's recorded or digitized, the effects are practically erased."

"Live is the best," Reina added in as she looking longingly at the writhing jellyfish in her chopsticks before she swallowed the thing whole in one gulp.

"Are you gonna sing too, Hayate?" Elizabeth asked, apparently anxious to hear my non-existent singing talent.

"Nope," I replied firmly as I reached over and dabbed a corner of her mouth that had some sauce on it. "We'll be ding an air show," I told the young girl before I tasted the sauce, finding it pretty good and reaching over to grab some more of it before Mirage spoke up.

"There is a chance that those unknowns will show up again," she warned, meeting my eyes with a cold look that told me she wasn't joking around. "Don't let your guard down and follow my orders." If she had spoken to me like that a week ago, I probably would've gotten upset, and the eyes I felt drifting towards me proved that some people still expected that. But I had come to learn and accept that Mirage just showed her concern in a different way. If nothing else, she would keep me alive just so she could say she had a hand in creating a successful pilot.

And then kill me in a non-flying 'accident'.

"Indeed, indeed," I replied, imitating Freyja's accent just a little to help ease the tension that had come over the table as I reached for the sauce.

"Are you making fun of me?" Freyja asked immediately, not missing a beat at all.

"I'd never!" I replied back nonchalantly as I stole a quick glance over at Mirage who seemed… well, not exactly happy, but not angry either. Maybe frustrated? The night moved along quickly once the main course had been finished. People began to leave as they neared their limits for alcohol and the amount of sleep they were willing to sacrifice. Freyja, Makina and Reina all went to the back of the resturant to watch the water for the bit, but I hung back to speak with Mirage before she left.

"You guy's go on ahead, I'm gonna get something to drink."

"Can you grab me an apple juice?" Freyja asked as she headed out to the patio holding her tummy. "I don't feel to great."

"Indeed, indeed," I replied with a small grin to which she scowled to but headed out anyways. I saw Mirage pick up her pet mercat and before she could leave, I caught up to her.

"Mirage?" I asked quickly, catching her just as she reached out for the handle. She stopped her motion but didn't turn around. "I just wanted to let you know I was serious about what you said. About following your orders." Mirage remained silent and still didn't turn around, but gave one nod of her head before she reached out and opened the door, leaving the restaurant.

I sighed heavily and shrugged as I went to grab an apple juice for Freyja. I found her out on the patio clutching her stomach as if she was having serious indigestion, but as soon as she had a sip from her beverage, she seemed to perk right up. It wasn't long before she left with Makina and Reina who refused to have me escort them back saying that they'd be fine and that I should catch some sleep before it got too late. I was glad to take the opportunity to head to bed and feel asleep almost as soon as I hit my mattress, not having to worry about the brooding Messer as he had gone to Elysion to sleep in preparation for tomorrow.

The next day started off pretty routinely. Until I showed up for work. Everyone was bustling around getting ready for Aether, the ship we would be leaving for Randor on. Once I was on board the ship, commander Arad found me and showed me to the room I'd be staying in. It wasn't huge, but then again we were on a paramilitary space vessel. Space was going to be something of a luxury and I had traveled on ships often enough to know that the room I had been given was fairly large. I immediately began to unpack my small bag full of clothes and hygiene supplies.

Halfway through a shower, there was a minor gravity flux as the ship separated from Elysion, causing the water droplets around me to momentary float in place. In that brief moment of weightlessness, it felt like the time I had let myself fall off the edge of Elysion before the wind picked me back up, and as I was recalling that feeling of euphoria, I suddenly felt the same strange sensation coming from the necklace around my neck. I quickly looked down at the crystal that hung near my heart, just catching the last of a strange glow before the crystal returned to it's normal purple color. I continued stairing at it, shaking my head a couple times to make sure it wasn't the water that was making me see things. But after a full minute of staring and nothing happening, I decided to stop wasting water and make myself useful.

Once I completed my shower, I changed into my flight uniform. We would only be in transit for thirty minutes, and I had already spent some of that time in the shower. Theodore and Perry had told me that there was a surprise for me in the hanger bay and I didn't want to keep them waiting. Once I arrived on the hanger deck, the two men greeted me with large smiles that I found very infectious.

"Follow me," Theodore said with a smirk that had my heart rate climbing. "I think you're going to like her."

"Her?" I asked, slightly unsure what the man was talking about. Then I began to think as I followed the mechanic past some of Delta Platoon's aircraft. We're on the hanger bay. Hanger bay's store planes. Mechanics work on planes. Mechanics sometimes call their planes their girls… My eyes widened as I had my epiphany just before I caught my first glance of the plane.

"Is this her?" I asked excitedly as Theodore held out a hand and smiled slyly. "She's a looker!" I exclaimed as I resisted the urge to walk around the plane and ogle it from every angle. I had always held an appreciation for large machines, especially ones that had a sense of elegance while still being able to perform a practical function. The VF-31 in front of me was practically the epitome of my fascination.

"It's a bleeding edge fighter, stock equipped with an inertial control system," Theodore began looking at both my reaction and the plane. "Wasted on you, if you ask me," the man added with a jab to my ribs. I couldn't help but let loose a small chuckle of anticipation. This Waccine show just got a whole lot more awesome in my book. "Also," the man beside me said before presenting me with a data-pad. "We have a lil' onboarding gift for you." I took the data pad and pressed the only button I could find on the device, causing a movie clip to begin.

"Hey-o, Haya-Haya!" I gave a small eye roll at the nick-name Makina seemed insistent upon making stick. "We know you hate the support AI," the on screen Makina continued, causing Mirage who had come to see what all the fuss was about to snort in subdued amusement. "So, we tuned Siegy just for you!" the girl finished in her bubbly enthusiasm, joining up with Reina and the rest of the engineering crew so they could cheer enthusiastically in front of the plane that appeared on the data-pad. I guess giving me a nick-name wasn't enough.

"This way you don't have to wear a helmet," Reina added, her voice a perfect juxtaposition to Makina.

"But," Makina said, as the data-pad switched to a chibi version of her and Reina, "if things go south, be sure to use the X-gear system, all right?" With the fast paced infomercial like video complete, I let out an amused grunt at the video.

It felt weird for people I normally didn't interact with to care enough about me to make special modifications to an already sophisticated plane. Every job before was just a bunch of people trying to collect a paycheck. It wasn't feeling like that would be the case here at Chaos.

"Thanks a lot," I said, turning to Theodore and Perry before returning my gaze to my new plane.

"Show us what you've got," Theodore replied, putting a hand on my shoulder for a brief moment. I was just about to start my long overdue close up inspection of the plane before I heard some familiar music coming from a pair of small speakers. Turning towards the noise I spotted Freyja heading towards us, seemingly in her own world and not really paying attention to where she was going.

"Hi, Freyja." I called out to the girl, trying to break her from her possibly dangerous course. It was common sense to not walk around distracted on a hanger deck. At least, common sense to anyone familiar with hanger decks. Freyja, however was seriously in the zone. "Hello!" I shouted at her, waving my data-pad a little to attract her attention.

"Hayate?" the girl asked, pulling out the speakers from her ears. The music must've been pretty loud for even me to hear it from this far in the noisy hanger deck. Was she _trying_ to distract herself?

"What's wrong?" I asked, acting on my hunch. "Got stage fright for your first show?" The way Freyja's eyes widened immediately let me know I was spot on.

"I'm…" the girl tried before I chuckled lightly. To be honest, I was feeling a little apprehensive too. I knew that this show wasn't only Freyja's proving performance, but mine as well. I decided to distract us both by asking about her music player she seemed to carry everywhere with her.

"You had that on you at Al-Shahal too. Some sort of good luck charm?" I asked, noticing Freyja relax a little bit.

"Kinda," she replied as she stared at the green, white and red music player with a wistful smile. I got it from an earthling who visited Windermere when I was little. This is how I learned about the music from outside." Freyja closed her eyes as if remembering a pleasant memory. "Lynn Minmay, The Fire Bomber, Sheryl Nome, Ranka Lee, and finally, Walkure." As Freyja opened her eyes, I could see a burning passion that I had seen very few people ever posses. "I thought they were so cool. I wanted to be just like them. But…" and just as quickly as it had appeared her passion began to fade.

"That's not like you," I told her as I stepped forward. "Where's the girl who charged into flying bullets, telling whoever cared that she was going to show the world some 'Winderemere power'? Did you forget?" I asked, trying to spur her out of her melancholy mood.

"You're right," the girl replied after a moment. Her eyes suddenly flashed brightly and she clenched her hands into fists, giving them a small pump of enthusiasm. "If I try, I can fly!" She suddenly turned around to face the way she had come from, her fists still clenched in her 'power' mode. "Life's but thirty years! If I've got time to worry, I've got time to fly!" she shouted out with a fist pump into the air. "Thanks, Haya-Haya!" she shouted as she ran off.

"Don't call me that," I whined as she rounded a corner.

"Windermereans die young in exchange for their extreme physical abilities," Mirage, suddenly said, almost as if she were in a daze. For a moment, I was confused why she had decided to bring that up, but then I remembered something weird Freyja had just said. "Their average life span is about thirty years," she finished, completing my train of thought.

"Feels unreal when I look at her," Theodore added, seemingly thinking along the same lines. It got me to thinking as well. Originally, I had thought Freyja to be around twelve, but recently, I had learned she was actually a little older, around fourteen. If she was expecting to make it to thirty… I suddenly didn't feel all to excited about my plane any more. I excused myself under the pretense to get ready for the upcoming show, but the look Mirage sent me told me she didn't quite buy it. Soon enough, I was able to push thoughts about Freyja's unfair condition from my mind and physic myself up for the flight. Commander Arad came by to let me know to be ready to launch, and I quickly followed him back out to the hanger deck where the last minute preparations were being made to our fighters. I saw Mirage send me a look, but thankfully keep any questions she had to herself.

Climbing into the cockpit of my own fighter felt like the best thing I had ever done. Knowing that the seat I was sitting in right now would only ever be mine filled me with an inexpiable giddiness that had me struggling to keep from squealing like a little girl. This air show was going to be great.

* * *

 **AN: Sorry about the very long pause. Hopefully I'll be having a bit more free time to dedicate to this. I've been working on some other stuff I haven't put up yet, but with all the questions I keep getting I should probably do some re-prioritizing. Anyway, hope you're not too upset with the long pause. Hope you enjoy.**


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